An Honest Mistake
by Dragonblooded
Summary: When Mikey text a picture meant for April to twin reporters-in-training Kiera and Coralyn, their cover is blown for good. Now it is up to the turtles to survive with the terrors society holds for them. See them face scientists who would love to dissect them, bussinessmen who would love to make money off of them, and a government that wants them dead.
1. Chapter 1

**This fanfic is a turtles romance, which there seems to be too many of, but hey, what's one more? I need ideas for the title, I couldn't think of much of anything. And even though I never said this in my other fanfic, I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's kinda obvious though.**

"Alright, people! Gather round!" I shouted.

"Why do we have to do this again?" Raph growled.

"We don't HAVE to…." I replied, "But we're going to!"

"Or maybe I'm GOING to slap you." he said, raising his hand threateningly.

Leo intercepted/saved my life (Raph probably wouldn't have killed me, but I appreciated it anyway) and said, "Just do it, Raph. It won't kill you."

"I like this idea." Donnie added.

"Of course you do, it's for your GIRLFRIEND." I teased.

He shouted, "SHUT UP, MIKEY!"

"Someone's having serious sensitivity issues." I said under my breath, but apparently not under enough, because Donnie heard me. His face turned a bright red that rivaled Raph's mask.

"Maybe we should hurry up and do this before someone draws blood." Leo said, "Now where do you want me?"

"Uh…." I said, "Leo, sit on the left side of the couch. Now Donnie, sit next to him. Raph, lean of the back…." I happily barked out orders, holding my hands up in a square like a real photographer does. Once I had everyone perfectly posed I dive-bombed onto the couch, making everyone lose their perfect poses, and snapped a shot with my T-phone. "Perfect! That one is a keeper!" I exclaimed, "Okay! You may all return to doing….whatever it is you guys do."

Raph groaned and stormed off to his room, snatching up Spike along the way. "You are all insane." He muttered.

Donnie hopped over the back of the couch and snagged a pair of safety goggles off the countertop before vanishing back into his lab.

Leo headed for the dojo, probably to talk with Splinter about something. I scrolled through my contacts (I didn't scroll at all actually; my brothers and April are my only contacts.) and hit April's name. I poked at the "New Text Message" button, but ending up hitting "Delete Contact". "Shoot!" I shouted; how can Donnie work these things? I loped over to the fridge and checked her number. 412-642-9065. Got it. I entered "April O'Neil" into my phone and started punching in her number, 412-642-90…. when April herself walked in.

"Hey, Mikey." She said, "What'cha doing?"

"NOTHING!" I shouted a bit too loudly, juggling my phone around until I could get it behind my back. My T-phone beeped (must have hit a button or something) and April looked around my arm suspiciously. I turned so she couldn't see and said "It's a secret." She laughed and walked off. Once she left, I flipped out my phone and hit the last number and the "Save" button. 412-642-9095. Perfect. I texted the pic and a little message saying "Happy Birthday April!" to her number and heard the little swoosh that meant it went through. "There we go." I said, turning off the T-phone and jumping on the couch, "All good."

Mikey

Kiera

I sat at my computer, anxiously typing my latest column for the "New York Times". I still couldn't believe they let me, a reporter-in-training, write an article in America's most popular newspaper. The clicking clacking noise of a keyboard's keys that I love echoed through my room. Sadly, my computer's pretty music became a duet to the happy squawking and chattering of my sister's annoying little macaw, Kingston. I've told her over and over I can't concentrate with her bird yapping all the time, but she just gets more miffed about the fact that I get to be a writer while she gets dogged around by snippy anchors and gruff cameramen at her newscasters-internship. If she's in a really bad mood, she'll teach that dratted parrot another line of "Bohemian Rhapsody", the most annoying and, well, bohemian song in existence. "Please tell Kingston to quiet down, Coralyn." I asked.

"Why, so you can write your STUPID column for your STUPID boss at that STUPID newspaper?" her voice snapped from the other room, "Well, some of us find it EASIER to concentrate with the pretty songs of our pretty pets. Isn't that right, Kingston? Now, repeat after Mommy. 'Too late. My time has come…."' She taught him a whole verse that day. I should've known not to bother her; she'd been competing for a promotion with this girl named Carmen for months and today they had given Carmen the position. I was frustrated for her already, so piling on a bird that now knows TWO verses of Queen's most infuriating song wasn't making me feel any better. Just then, my phone played a little octave. I picked it up, confused. All the people I knew had set text tones. It was a picture message from a number that I didn't even vaguely recognize. When I checked it, there was a bubble saying "Happy Birthday, April!" "Wrong number." I thought, and went to put it down, but that little picture icon was bouncing up and down in the corner. Curious, I clicked on it. The picture expanded, showing a full sized image of….four giant green….things. "Hey Cor." I called, using the little nickname I had for my sis to show I was happy, "Come see this."

My sister loves animals. No wait, that's not right. More like ADORES animals. And the things in this picture were animalish. Upon closer examination, I noticed they were wearing little mask things and holders for something.

"What's up, Kiera? Want me to proofread or something?" Coralyn asked, strolling into my room. My sister is an AMAZING speller; oftentimes I trust her more than I do spell-check.

"No, not now." I said, "Check out this picture someone sent me." She leaned over my phone, giving me a face full of curly blonde hair. I never understood how she could keep it so long and not cut it short like me; it got in the way of everything. Her excuse was that it was pretty, and you have to be pretty to be an anchorwoman. Then she would apologize, saying my asymmetrical hairstyle was pretty too.

"Whoa. Turtles!" she exclaimed, tucking her hair behind her ear when she noticed me sputtering, "Who sent you that?!"

"I don't know." I replied, "I think it was a wrong number."

"Awesome! Are those swords?!" she chattered excitedly, pointing to a pair of brown handle shapes sticking up over one of the turtles' shells. Accidentally, she poked the screen and made it zoom in. "Sweet! They ARE!" she shouted.

"What kind of turtle would have swords?" I said, being the practical one, "What kind of turtle even looks like that?! I think it's some kind of wallpaper or something meant for some turtle-loving girl."

"You have NO imagination, Kiera!" Coralyn replied, before poking the screen in another spot, "Look, there's some kind of number up there! I'll bet we can find where this was taken!"

"Or I can track it with my phone's GPS." I said.

"Duh." She said, "Now I feel stupid. Come on!" she said, grabbing my wrist and rushing to the apartment door.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, "Where are we going?!"

She turned around and looked at me like I was the stupid one. She sighed and explained like she was dumbing it down, "We're going to where that pic was taken. And people say YOU'RE the smart one." With that, she grabbed at my wrist again.

"Wait, Cor!" I said, resisting, "We don't know where this will lead! It might not even be in the same state! It might not be in the same COUNTRY!"

"Fine, track it first, worrywart." She said, relenting momentarily. I tracked the photo, waiting patiently as the map loaded while Coralyn looked as if she really had to go to the bathroom. Shortly, it loaded, and the photo's origins were in New York City. "Okay. It's in the same CITY." Cor said, "Now COME ON!"

"What makes you think I want to track down this stupid photo?!" I shouted. "Aren't you even slightly curious?! You had to be to have opened the file! It's right here in New York City! It's even in walking distance!" she exclaimed, "Look, we haven't taken our bi-daily jog. Let's just go jogging and pass by the place. Come on, Kiera! Where's your sense of adventure!" I pondered it for a moment. I didn't really want to do it, I had my article and all, but Coralyn seemed super-excited about finding the source of this weird turtle picture.

I gave in; saying with a sigh, "Alright. Fine."

"YES!" Cor cheered, "I KNEW you'd come through!" She slung her camera's case over her shoulder.

"Why are you taking that?" I asked.

"Reporter's creed." She said, "Prepare for anything anywhere anytime."

"Nice alliteration, but I didn't think reporters have a dogma." I replied.

"Well this one does." She stated, throwing open the door and striding out.

"You need shoes." I called to her.

"I know." She stated, striding right back through the door to slide on her special electric blue Pumas that exactly matched the color of Kingston's feathers. "Okay…." She said, "Reporter's creed blah blah blah this one does." and strode out the door dramatically. I slipped on my rollerblades instead of shoes. Something was telling me they would be a bit more helpful.

**I forgot to mention up top that I'm also asking who Kiera should be with, either Leo or Raph. I'll go as far as I can without her showing interest in either of them, but then I'll stop until one of the turtles gets fifteen votes. You can review or PM me your opinion. Saying both doesn't get them both a vote. **


	2. Chapter 2

Coralyn dragged me through town, having stolen my phone to check the map. She nearly ran into dozens of people and probably did when I didn't catch her and move her out of the way. It seemed every single person was going the opposite direction of us. I swerved and ducked and never even touched anyone besides running over some poor dog's tail, while my sister plowed through the crowd like a really focused bulldozer combined with an emotionless steamroller. Finally, after trekking, or skating in my case, for ages, we came up to an alleyway that sent my phone buzzing like a metal detector would if you ran it over a scrap yard. Coralyn turned and headed straight in, not noticing the overall dank and creepiness of it. "Cor," I called, "I don't think this is a good idea."

"It'll be fun, Kiera!" her voice answered, "Don't be a stick-in-the-mud!"

Being called a stick-in-the-mud really set me off. I have always been called that ever since second grade when my sister and two best friends Mila and Reese made a tire swing with an old fraying rope and a cracked tire and tried to make me get on. I wouldn't, no matter what they said, and Reese dubbed me a stick-in-the-mud. To this day Coralyn and Mila (Cor and I haven't spoken to Reese ever since she killed one of our dogs in a firecracker incident) say it was the best tire swing they ever rode, and it still hangs there today. I swear they must've replaced the rope and faked the unraveling, because that thing was so ratty it would've snapped if you put a feather on it. "Fine!" I shouted, skating into the dark pathway, "But this is a stupid idea!"

I followed her as she walked deeper and deeper into the alley, my phone beeping louder and louder until I thought someone had set off a car alarm because a phone couldn't possibly be that loud. Suddenly, Coralyn turned right and stopped dead center in the alley. After nearly running her over, I swerved up to her side and checked the map. "See." I said, "Nothing here. This was pointless."

"Maybe you're right…." She started to say, "But the background is totally different. Maybe…." She hit a little button that showed more details about the location. "Aha!" she exclaimed after examining it for a moment, "We are at the wrong altitude!"

"Altitude?" I asked, "You don't mean…."

Cor grinned and said, "Yep! This photo was taken UNDERGROUND!"

"Yippee-ki-yay now let's get out of here." I said blandly, attempting to drag her away. In response, she smiled a smile I had come to know as bad news. I sighed and pleaded, "You're not serious…."

I couldn't believe my luck. In mere minutes I had gone from writing an article for a high-class newspaper to being lugged through the sewer by my sister who I swear must have gone schizophrenic within the last hour. Holding my brand spanking new iPhone in her hand, Coralyn wove through the disgusting cesspit with her face in the phone, occasionally running into a wall and nearly dropping it. Her pretty blue Pumas were now a brown that reminded me of what it actually came from. Somehow I managed to save my rollerblades purple wheels from turning more than a dusty puce, probably from hop-skip-jump-skating all over the sides while my sister just plunged down the center. I admire her focus, but that's just a little bit overboard. After an uncountable amount of twists and turns and dead ends, my phone finally led Cor and I to a row of turnstiles before some kind of what looked to be a room. The weird thing was it didn't just look like randomized cesspool trash, but more like something's living space. Coralyn passed me back my phone and took out her camera. "Did you remember an SD card?" I whispered.

"Don't need it." She replied, "This will save any footage I get plus send it to the newsroom." When I looked at her strangely, she added, "It was a one-year anniversary gift. They do it for everyone looking to be an anchorperson." Out of the bag came a folded up wheeled tripod which Cor hooked her camera to. With a smile, she said with all seriousness, "We're on live in 3….2….1…."

"Hello. I'm Coralyn Keller, here with my sister Kiera Keller." Cor said to the camera with a straight smile, "We are here at the site of a strange picture received by my sister." I held my phone up to the lens of the camera, showing the whole of New York City these odd turtles. Coralyn continued, "We have found a strange sight, as it appears we have some sort of den in the sewers of New York City. Let's explore." With that, she cautiously approached the turnstiles and stepped gently over them. I followed, wheeling along the camera, trying my best to keep it on Cor. Scanning the room with the camera, I, along with my sister and any other watchers saw what appeared to be a normal-like living room. A TV, beanbags, sofa, many average household items were placed, not strewn about but placed, in this room. Suddenly, a blurry green shape with an orange stripe on an orange skateboard rocketed out of one of the hallways and headed straight for Cor. She ducked and braced herself, but the verdant skateboarder swerved easily around her, only to slip and fall into a pool of water. It came up to the surface, coughing and sputtering, and then noticed us and the camera. It slowly retreated back into the water.

"Mikey." A voice behind us called, "Oh Mikey! Where are you?" A green two-fingered hand popped out of the water and gestured at us. Quickly, I swirled the camera around, wanting to catch a shot of the turtle creature before it could escape. Another turtle man, this one marked purple, stared at the camera, looking shell-shocked. Hehehe, good one Kiera. It stood motionless, looking at the camera with big brown deer-in-the-headlights eyes. As if it had received a jolt of electricity, it took off, shouting "CODE RED! CODE RED!"

"Donnie, no one knows what Code Red is." A thoroughly annoyed voice said, accompanied by the appearance of a red-banded turtle.

The voice of the one called "Donnie" replied "THERE'S REPORTERS IN THE LAIR! THERE'S REPORTERS IN THE LAIR!"

The red-garbed turtle scanned the room, its eyes falling on us. "Oh, for crying out loud…." It said, stalking off, "Leo, get your skateboard!"

"On it!" another voice exclaimed, paired to a blue-masked turtle creature skating out of the room. The purple one followed, then the orange one. The red one rocketed out, but ended up running over some type of remote control and falling off.

"Are you kidding me?!" it shouted, deserting the skateboard and running off.

"Quick, let's follow it!" Coralyn exclaimed, snagging the ignored skateboard (black with red accents and a red 'r' printed on it) and taking off. I followed, toting the camera behind me. We skittered into a big open room to see the three wheeled turtles slip under a garage door. The red one was jabbing at a control panel, for the door refused to fully shut and was frozen halfway.

"Not today." The turtle said, removing some kind of oversized fork and stabbing at the buttons. The panel sparked, and the door slid downward. "Finally!" the turtle shouted, obviously frustrated, before shooting under the door. Cor and I rode up to it.

"What do we do now?!" I shouted, a bit scared about getting trapped in the storm drains. Coralyn backed up, and then pushed herself and the skateboard toward the door. "Cor! What are you doing?!" I shouted, not caring that I had left the camera rolling. She grinned mischievously as she passed. She came closer to the door, which was at the knee, so close that she would've ran into it, had she not bent back with an amazing flexibility and slid right under.

Her voice called from the other side, "And you said skateboarding wasn't good for anything!"

I looked around, trying to process my sister's escape while plotting my own. She possessed one thing that I would've sorely needed to get under that door: flexibility. Me, I was the nerd, the geek, the girl who didn't play any sports, unless chess counts. Cor, the jock, the sporty one, the girl who would do anything that was thought to be even partially dangerous, and loved anything that held a chance of getting killed. Quickly, I realized there was no way for me to get under that door. "Go on without me!" I shouted, laying my head sideways on the ground to see her.

She did the same, asking, "What do I do?!"

With a smile, I said in a stroke of calm, "Go get yourself a story." She grinned in return. The panicky aura returning, I shouted, "Take the camera!" I ripped off the stand and shoved the camera sideways into the slot. It got wedged. Coralyn pulled and I pushed, and after a few minutes of it not budging, the camera slowly scraped onto the other side. The door slammed shut, separating me from my sister for he first time in a long time.

**Okay, so far there is only one vote for Leo and none for Raph. I can only get up about one or two more chapters before Kiera makes a choice, so get your votes in. Should Kiera be with Leo or Raph? If you want, you can guess who Coralyn is going to pick. No voting for her. And once again, voting for both Leo and Raph doesn't get both turtles a vote.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So far concerning votes, I have received three votes for Leo and none for Raph. Where are you Raph people?! But anyway, I'm going to adjust the needed amount of votes to 10. 15 is a bit high, and I'm hitting a point where I have to add romance between one or the other to tie it all together. By the way, this chapter starts from Coralyn's POV (point-of-view, for those of you who are like me and don't understand fanfic jargon). Also, this chapter is probably going to be very long. I'm most likely going to write until I hit the point where either Raph or Leo woos Kiera. Enjoy, and as always, I only own the turtles in my wildest dreams. **

I twirled around nervously, my eyes flicking and fluttering back and forth. Normally I would've plowed on with no hesitation, but it was different this time. Kiera wasn't here. Without her smart, practical guidance, I started to have a panic attack, it just now sinking in that there were giant turtle monsters living in the sewers of my home. The weight of the camera in my hand brought me back to reality. I looked through the camera, swinging about looking for these creatures, but this time with a sense of confidence. I spotted the beings scrambling into a wheeled subway car covered in graffiti. Leaping on my borrowed (okay, I admit it, I stole it) skateboard; I raced toward them, attempting to swerve around rats and snakes and sewer junk while holding the camera steady. A sudden appreciation for my sister's rollerblading skills arose. The turtle in blue caught me approaching, yelling "We've got company!"

"Gee, Leo. I never would've thought." The saucy voice of the turtle in red said from within the cart, "Now get in here and drive!" "Leo" scampered into the car and it quickly took off along the rails. Sweeping along behind it, I went precariously fast, not caring that I probably nearly broke my bones and my camera multiple times. Little pipe and gravel bits tripped up my wheels, making my extra speed pretty much worthless. Somehow, I got close enough to the van to read the writing and get some clear shots. A ladder ran down the left side of the back, the side closest to me. Kiera would've called it reckless, stupid, and incredibly irresponsible. For a second, I was happy she wasn't there. Then, I launched myself off the skateboard and grabbed the ladder. Scrambling up, I crouched on top of the subway car, taking riding the rails to a new level. I wondered how Kiera was doing.

Coralyn

Kiera

I nervously clutched my phone, ready to call the police if any other wackadoodle monsters decided to show themselves. After many minutes of nothing, I slid my phone back into my windbreaker's pocket and slinked about this underground living room/terrarium. I nearly peed myself when I heard something crunching. Peeking around the corner, I spotted what appeared to be a normal turtle, chewing on a lettuce leaf. Sliding my phone out, I snapped a picture of the little nonchalant reptile. It barely even moved except to look at me with distaste. A lettuce canister with the word "Spike" written on the side in Sharpie laid tipped over next to him. I glared back at the little turtle for a while, until it blinked and turned back to its leaf. Another noise, something that sounded like a door, echoed from a big expansive room. As stealthily as I could in rollerblades, I stole a look into the room. It was wide and expansive, featuring nothing but a big tree in its center. Some type of panel had opened in the side of the room. Another oversized animal, this one a rat, appeared from the room. Unlike its turtle compatriots, it donned clothes, a burgundy robe with an odd five-pronged symbol on it that reminded me distinctly of a snowflake, ignoring the fact that it was colored puce. It glanced in my direction; I quickly ducked back behind the wall. Its footsteps approached me. I pressed my back against the wall, crouching into a tiny ball. Rats have bad eyesight, right? Or was it bad smell? Maybe it was bad eyesight with a good sense of smell to compensate? I sat curled up against the wall, contemplating whether or not it would notice me, when a deep voice said from above my head, "Hello."

I probably jumped five feet, and I'm assuming I did, because I collided heads with rat man. Talk about a head banger. -rim shot- "Who are you?" he asked.

"Kiera Keller for the New York Times." I said in a straight voice, snapping a picture of the creature before it decided to escape. It furrowed its brow, looking irked. "Maybe I should make my escape." I thought, edging away. The rat grabbed a stick that looked to be some kind of frozen green goop. Pushing off a countertop, I skated off at unsteadying speeds, rushing back into the garage and slinking through a small person door I hadn't noticed before due to the fact that it was the same color as the walls. A confused look perched on the rat's face as it watched me leave. Turning back around, I raced off into the sewers, following the wheel ruts and skid marks covering the sides of the cesspool. I followed these around a right bend and into the murky depths. I sullenly realized that after all of this excitement, we'd still have to wade our way out of this disgusting drain. Ugh. All of a sudden, the tracks stopped. The reason why laid deserted in the center of the slushy sewage: a red skateboard. Cor had obviously got off at some point, but why? Sparks in the distance caught my attention. The subway car toting the turtles turned left and skittered down the tracks. A figure balanced on the roof of the car. I strained my eyes to see. A silvery boxy shape glinted on the form's shoulder. Cor? What?

Kiera

Coralyn

Crouching, I perched dangerously on the car's roof. My knees scraped the surface of the car, but I didn't care. My main concerns were getting that story and staying alive. In that order. I twiddled a knob on the side of my camera, increasing its volume to try and pick up what the creatures were saying inside. When I tuned it to its highest level, the voices of the turtles echoed through the camera to me. "Let's just shoot it off the roof. Problem solved." The deep voice of that sassy red turtle proposed.

"Meathead. It's got us on VIDEO. We shoot it off; it's still got proof of our existence. I need to get near her camera. I might be able to compromise the footage." The higher voice of the purple turtle said.

"Yes, I'm sure that reporter is going to let a six-foot turtle near her camera." Red replied.

"What? You got a better idea?" Purple asked.

"Guys! Calm down!" the turtle in blue said.

"I've got an idea!" the bubbly voice of the orange turtle exclaimed.

"No." Red said.

"You didn't even hear it!" Orange cried.

"NO." Red repeated.

"Why do you guys never like my ideas?!" Orange asked.

"Because they're your ideas." Blue said, "Out of curiosity, what was your idea, Mikey?"

"Why tell when I can show?" "Mikey" said. A clicking noise emitted from the inside of the car, then a screeching squealing of something rusty spinning. An orange-masked turtle head popped out of a little door atop the car. "Shoo shoo!" it cried, "Go away!" I smiled at the simplicity of its idea and trained the camera on its face. It zoomed in with an audible clicking noise. "Uhh….Mikey is not here right now. Please leave a message after the beep." "Mikey" said before disappearing into the cart. "Beep." It added from the safety of its vehicle. Another involuntary grin covered my face as I peeked in the door he had left open. The turtle in red swirled around on its chair, catching me red-handed.

"Hey! Get outta here!" it shouted, "Mikey, go entertain it."

"Why should I do it? You do it!" "Mikey" exclaimed.

"Let's take a vote." Red said, the voices of the other turtles adding to it. "Mikey."

"I demand a recount!" "Mikey" shouted. Red sighed and unclipped his seatbelt, then vanished from my sight for a few moments. He returned into my vision, carrying a squirming little turtle man with orange mask.

"Brace yourself." Red said.

"Mikey" retreated all its limbs into its shell; "Ready." Its voice wafted out of the head-hole. Red launched the turtle through the porthole-like door and onto the roof with me. The door clamped shut behind it; I heard the sound of the lock twisting. I turned the lens of the camera up to the turtle's face. "Oh geez." It said.

"Um…." The turtle said, "Would you mind going away….and maybe giving me the tape to that camera?"

I chuckled and said, "Sorry. No can do. I've got to put food on the table somehow. Besides, this doesn't have a tape. It sends footage straight to the news office. You break the camera, my footage is still saved."

The orange-banded turtle's face fell for a moment, but perked right back up as he said with a smile, "Well, I guess if people are gonna know about us anyway…." He reached out and took my hand, shaking it up and down and saying, "I'm Michelangelo, but everyone calls me Mikey. Pleased to meet you and all that."

"Coralyn Keller." I replied, returning his hand-shake, "But everyone calls me Cor."

"Ooh….Coralyn…." Mikey said, breaking into a grin, "That's a pretty name!" I blushed, happy I was behind the camera.

"Thanks." I muttered, soft enough that I thought he wouldn't hear. Yet he did, and he beamed like a hyena. I gathered my wits and asked in my best serious reporter voice, "How long have you and your friends lived under New York City?"

"Friends?" Mikey asked, donning a confused look, "Those are my brothers. They're my friends most of the time, unless I delete one of Leo's Space Heroes episodes or something." His brute honesty made me grin. He continued, saying, "But as for your question, my bros and I have lived here our whole lives, though I guess we're gonna have to move, now that someone's found us." He emanated such innocent sadness that I felt like I was going to start crying. His emotions seemed to flick back and forth, dragging mine along for the ride.

"How old are you?" I asked, remembering I had a job to do. "Fifteen. How bout you?" Mikey said nonchalantly.

"Seventeen." I replied, even though my birthday was only about a month away. "So you're in school?" Mikey asked.

"No. My sister jumped two grades and graduated when she was fifteen and I just managed to scrape by by going to kindergarten in preschool." I answered. It was true; my mom had been a fanatic about us getting our education and managed to enroll us in both preschool and kindergarten in the same year. Kiera showed amazing skills, skipping both fifth and sixth grade because she got perfect scores on the fourth grade achievement tests. All four of them. I, on the other hand, entered that year walking, and came out dragging myself along with my left hand and my right elbow. I did SO badly.

"Ahh…." Mikey said, "Wouldn't know about that. I never went to school."

With a smile, I said sarcastically, "What's two plus two?" He frowned, saying, "I'm not stupid. 2 + 2 is 22. Duh." I stared at him like he was from Mars, which for all I know, he could've been. A grin split his face, and he broke out laughing. "You FELL for that?!" He shouted through his giggles. They say laughter is contagious. You'd need to be quarantined to escape from Mikey's. Near immediately I became caught in his giggle trap, laughing uncontrollably. Suddenly, the door popped open, smacking Mikey in the head. The purple-garbed turtle appeared.

"What's going on up here?" he asked, "It sound like a hyena fighting with a bottle of nitrous oxide."

"Yup. Kinda." I said, grinning involuntarily.

Purple eyed me suspiciously, and then caught a glimpse of my camera. "Is that a Samsung 2x Camcorder Deluxe?!" he exclaimed (I have no idea if there really is a Samsung 2x Camcorder Deluxe. Just pretend it's some camera that looks like an old video camera, but a bit bigger.) I glanced at it and scanned for a name of some sort, and found that it was indeed the camera he said. I nodded; amazed that he had knew that.

Mikey seemed not to be, on the other hand, saying "Here comes Techno-Dork to ruin the day. Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah! You need to get a logo or something, Donnie."

Donnie turned a dark red and whacked Mikey with a long stick. He fell off and slammed hard onto the side of the sewer pipe. "Bo staff…." Donnie said, "I love you."

I leaned over the edge of the car, focusing my camera on Mikey, and yelled, "Are you okay?!"

Mikey jumped right up, shouting in reply, "It takes more than that to keep Michelangelo down!" A lead pipe came flying out of nowhere and rammed into Mikey's head. He seemed unfazed, standing up with a smile, but then fell over backward.

"Mikey!" I cried. As the car blazed on, I began to lose sight of him, but I could've sworn I saw some humanoid figure hovering by him, with a red bar in its hand. Red bar? With wheels? I must be having a serious case of déjà vu, because that looks a lot like a skateboard….

Coralyn

Kiera

I snatched up the skateboard and rushed off after the cart, trying my hardest to catch up to it and failing. At some point along the way, a large green shape fell off the cart onto the other side of the van. A streak of orange sliced across its head. Cor must've knocked him off. Cor's voice yelled from the distance, "Are you okay?!" What? Why was she concerned about this creature? All I was concerned with was getting the story and getting the heck OUTTA HERE!

"It takes more than that to keep Michelangelo down!" a voice that I assumed belonged to the orange-clothed turtle. One of my wheels hit a nick in the concrete and caused my foot to swerve. It hit a discarded pipe, and I ended up kicking it. Guess where it landed? Guess! Right on the turtle's head! If I were Coralyn, I've would screamed, "Bull's-eye!" and considered doing so anyway. I was going to skate right past him, but he fell backwards, and a resounding thud vibrated through the pipes.

I heard Cor scream "Mikey!"

"Hmm…." I thought, "What would Coralyn do?" The answer hit me instantly, and I ramped over the center cesspit pools and onto the other side. "Are you okay?" I asked, approaching the turtle.

"I think…." The turtle said, pushing itself to its knees and flopping down again, "What happened? Is Cor alright?"

"You're actually concerned about her?" I asked, "Even after all we've done?"

"Well yeah…." He said, getting on his hands and knees again, "No one deserves to be hurt if they haven't hurt someone." I smiled; he seemed to be the kind of person like Cor: silly with bursts of smart.

"Here." I said, holding out the skateboard, "Your friends forgot this."

"Raph's skateboard!" Mikey exclaimed. He looked at me with big baby blue eyes and clutched the skateboard to his plastron (Chest, as Coralyn would say. She does not know her terms.) His happy smile was replaced by a confuse look and a cock of the head. "Wait, you're not Coralyn." Mikey said.

"No." I said, "My name's Kiera. Coralyn's my sister. My twin sister in fact."

Mikey's face lit with horror; "There's TWO of you?" he gasped, scooching backwards a bit.

I laughed and said, "I've got a car to catch. You coming?" He grinned and said, "Oh yeah."

I took off, Mikey following on the skateboard. "Where were they headed, Mikey?" I asked him.

"Well, let's see. If they wanted to go somewhere no one would find them, then they'd go to….Uh…." he said, "Y'know what, why don't I just call them?" With that, he pulled out a phone in the shape of a turtle shell and called someone. "(Mikey?) Yeah, hi." Mikey said to one of his turtle friends. I could faintly hear the other end. It sounded like the blue-masked turtle from what I could hear. "(Are you alright? I heard you fell!) Yeah, I'm okay. No major injuries. Maybe a little brain damage or something…. (Red: Don't you have to have a brain for that?) HEY! (Blue: Ignore him. Where are you?) That's the problem. Where are YOU? (Blue: We're heading toward the sewage treatment plant. Donnie's hanging out on the roof talking to that reporter girl. He sounds ticked.) Tell him not to hurt her! (Red: Why? She hurt us. She exposed us to the world. We're practically dead because of her. Don't we deserve revenge, Mikey?) Yeah, but we don't have to get through her! What's done is done. We can't change that, Raph. So tell Donnie not to lay a finger on her. GOT IT? (Red: Got it. Gee whiz. You'd think she was the last slice of pizza or something.) Did you tell him? Did you? (Red: No, not yet. Leo, tell him. Blue: Okay. Don't see why you can't do it. DONNIE! MIKEY SAYS NOT TO HURT THE REPORTER! Purple: GOTCHA. Blue: There. Happy? Red: Almost enough to smile. That good enough for you, Mikey?) Yeah, good, all's well ends well, bye." He hung up and said to me, "Follow me. To the sewage treatment plant!"

"That is one sentence I never though I'd have to hear." I thought, skating off after a giant turtle teen riding a skateboard through the sewers of NYC. My life has turned into a bad cartoon.

**Okay, I ended it a bit earlier than I thought. It was getting really long. I'm probably going to have to end up cutting the amount of votes from 10 to 5. My story's popularity isn't that high. :( Please vote, even if you just look at the story and hate it. If you want more to be up quickly, vote for Leo, he's the only one that currently has any votes at all. Hurry hurry! Time is running out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**For those of you who have been reading Turtle, Meet Dragon Dragon, Meet Turtle, you know that I ended the voting for this story yesterday. The final results are in, but I'm not gonna say who won. If you haven't figured it out by the end of this chapter, you need to find a dictionary and look up the definition of 'romance' and 'crush'. I have now noticed that you need to post a disclaimer for songs used, so I do not own Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen or the three songs used in What Have I Done Now. Those were Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down, United by Judas Priest, and Living after Midnight, also Judas Priest. Point of View is back to Kiera. **

I followed Mikey as he wove through the sewers with incredible expertise. Left turn here, right turn there, I was confused in a matter of moments, but Mikey seemed to have every inch of the sewers perfectly memorized. Soon, a smell twice as horrible as the one that accompanied the cesspool we rode through wafted down the tunnel. Mikey inhaled deeply and stated, "Yup. Sewage treatment plant." I breathed deep and immediately regretted it, coughing and sputtering from the putrid scent. "Hurry up!" Mikey called from in front of me. Wheeling over to him, every second the scent became stronger until I resorted to holding my breath. "We're here!" Mikey exclaimed in a happy sing-songy voice.

Glancing up, I saw a huge forest of buildings that emanated that smell so strong you could practically see the ooze green waves rolling off it. Everything in sight was covered in disgusting grime except for the subway car that compared to the wasteland it was sitting in, looked clean enough to eat off. Cor was sitting on the roof of the car, legs dangling over the side, interviewing the purple-banded turtle. The red turtle was nowhere to be seen, but a large cannon emerged from the car and swiveled in Coralyn's direction. The turtle wearing blue was leaning against the side of the car, staring up at Cor and the purple turtle. He glanced over in our direction, and his eyes immediately narrowed. Quickly, they softened and he put his hand on his head, groaning, "What have you done now, Mikey?"

"Nothing." Mikey replied, "Is something wrong, Leo?"

"Leo" smiled and said, "Oh, nothing. You would think that maybe it might be a problem when you lead a pair of reporters to the lair and then fraternize with one and then on top of that lead the other one to our hiding spot!" Throughout his scolding, "Leo" seemed to maintain an incredible composure that I'd never seen before.

"Hey, Cor is very friendly!" Mikey exclaimed defensively, pointing at my sister. She turned and waggled her fingers at me, blushing.

"I swear Cor; you could make friends with a rock." I said with a grin that showed I was happy to see her even though I was teasing her.

"Have made would be a better verb phrase." She replied, beaming.

Mikey's face lit up as he said, "You mean I'm not the only person who had a rock friend?"

Cor happily answered, "Nope. I am not ashamed to say that I still keep in touch with Rocky and Pebbles."

"I think we found another Mikey." The red turtle's voice said, "As if one wasn't enough."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment!" Coralyn exclaimed cheerily.

"Take it however you want. It wasn't." The red masked turtle replied, stepping out of the car.

"How is it that for fifteen years no one has noticed that mutant turtles live in New York sewers?" I asked Mikey.

"We're ninja!" he exclaimed, whipping out two pair of nunchuks and spinning them around, "Nobody sees us! And if they do, they have to stand up to my HOT NUNCHUK FURY!"

Cor casually hopped off the car's roof and snatched both his weapons. "Maybe hot nunchuk fury needs a little work." She said with a smile.

"Besides, now anyone who watches the New York news knows we exist." Leo said, appearing next to me, "Ninja aren't supposed to be seen, let alone taped. This is worse than the time Vic videoed us on his phone."

"If my opinion counts for anything, you just scared the crap out of me." I said.

He smiled slightly and said, "Thanks, but it doesn't. You're kinda the reason we're in this mess."

"I still say we should've fired the one off the roof." The red turtle called.

"Mikey would've killed you." Leo replied, "You heard him on the phone, lay a finger on the girl and we all die."

Coralyn looked at Mikey. He blushed a deep red, looked at the ground, and mumbled softly, "It's kinda been a while since I made a friend."

Cor tipped Mikey's face upward and said, "Don't worry; I'd be happy to be your friend, if you'd be willing to have me as one."

Mikey lit up and shouted, "Of course I would! Friend hug!" He then grabbed my sister and squeezed her to death.

The tall turtle with the purple mask walked over and pried Mikey off with a long stick. "No hug for you." he said to Mikey, jabbing him with the stick.

Mikey snatched the end of the stick and tugged it out of his hands, breaking it on his knee. "No stick for you!" he exclaimed, laughing. Cor started laughing too, even though his joke was corny and trite.

"Hate to break up the giggle party, but we have to figure out what to do about this video." Red said, striding over, clutching Cor's forgotten camera.

"Breaking the camera won't fix anything." I stated, stealing the device from him, "The feed is already uploaded into the news office."

"Great." Purple said, "That means we have to get into the newsroom before they see the video."

"No one should be there now, maybe one or two people. It's 3 in the morning." Cor exclaimed, "The office isn't far from here. If we can get to the newsroom and delete the footage before they broadcast the six o'clock news, no one will know what happened! Your secret will be safe!" The turtles cheered and high-fived each other.

I grabbed Coralyn's wrist and dragged her to the side. "Cor!" I exclaimed in a hushed voice, "This is our big break! We could become real reporters! Why are we HELPING these things?"

"Kiera, I know more about these guys than you do. I've talked to them. They're nice guys, the kind that would've been popular in school if they weren't turtles." She answered a bit louder than I would've hoped, as the turtles heard, "I can't bear the thought of these guys being zoo animals or science projects. Do you KNOW what people would do to them?! I want to help them, Kiera, and I know you do too."

"I would like to help them, but really, breaking into the news building?! That is stupid and reckless and…."

"Fun and awesome and right." Cor interrupted, "Come on, Kiera. Don't be a stick-in-the-mud."

knew that comment was meant to anger me, and it worked. I stood up and said confidently, "Let's go."

"Whoa whoa whoa." The turtle in red said, placing both hands on my chest to stop me, "I think you've helped enough already, lady."

"I have a name." I said, irked by this turtle's pushover attitude.

"Well, good for you!" he exclaimed with mock happiness, gesturing to the far side of the clearing, "Why don't you tell us about that from over there?"

"Well, I was going to help you, redhead, but now I think I'll just leave." I stated, pushing him out of the way and skating to the exit.

"Good riddance!" Red yelled.

I called over my shoulder, "By the way, the name's Kiera!"

Kiera

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Coralyn

Kiera skated off, obviously ticked. Part of me wanted to chew out whatever-his-name-is for being rude, but I had a distinct feeling that I would end up no better than Kiera. So, another part of me, the part that was already ticked, decided to use my stolen nunchuks to smash in the turtle's head. And it did. He whipped around and shouted, "What the heck?!"

I twirled the nunchuk in my left hand, somehow not hitting myself, and said, "Haven't you heard that if you mess with one twin you have the other to deal with?"

"You're twins?" Red said, "Hmph. That explains why you're both so aggravating." I went to crush his face, but the end of the nunchuk was caught between the prongs of what looks to be a deformed fork. "What'cha gonna do now, girlie?" he asked, ripping the weapon out of my hands.

A devilish grin spread across my face as I kicked him between the legs as hard as I could. And when you can drop kick a soccer ball across a football field, that's pretty hard. He fell down and for the longest time, sat huddled in his shell.

"Raph?" the turtle wearing purple asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'll survive." "Raph" answered, "But will someone please kill that chick for me?"

"They were trying to help." Mikey said, "But you couldn't stop being a meanie long enough to let them. For shame."

Instantaneously, "Raph" emerged from his shell and shouted, "You're gonna get it!" He ran after Mikey, but I noticed that he grimaced every time he took a step.

With a small smile, I looked to the purple turtle and asked, "So? Are you gonna do anything?"

"I'm just along for the ride." He said, "I'm Donatello, but I think I'll let you call me Donnie."

"Coralyn," I replied, "but I think I'll let you call me Cor."

"Cor it is." He declared, "That's Raph over there, the one you may've just fatally wounded. Call him Raphael and you might as well start writing a will."

"What about Blue?" I asked.

"That's Leo." Donnie stated, pointing over his shoulder at an invisible turtle.

"Is Leo part chameleon?" I asked with a giggle, "Cuz no one's there." Donnie looked around, obviously confused.

"Leo?" he called. "Hmm. Leo seems to have vanished."

"Isn't that what ninjas do?" I said.

Donnie tried to look angry but ended up smiling as he mock growled, "Yes, but it's considered rude to vanish without telling your ninja brothers first!"

Coralyn

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Kiera

Furious, I skated through the sewers, turning when I felt like it, until I tripped on a rock and rammed head first into a dead end. Footsteps approached me from behind. "You want a fight, redhead?" I said, "Cuz I will give you one."

"I'm not looking for trouble, Kiera." A voice that wasn't the red-banded turtle's said. Glancing back, I confirmed that the turtle behind me donned blue, not red. "I'm Leo." He said, walking up to me.

"Why are you here?" I asked, cutting him off before he could say any more.

"The sewers are really easy to get lost in when you don't know your way around," he replied, "and a normal city girl like you wouldn't know her way around them."

"What's it to you if I get lost here?" I spat, still angry from my spar with the other turtle, "I ruined your life, exposed you to the world. Why would you care what happens to me?"

Leo sighed and said, "I truly have no idea, but I guess part of me wants to believe you're a nice girl." "If we'd met under any other circumstances, and you didn't have green skin and a shell, that part of you might've been right." I answered over my shoulder, my back still to the turtle.

"You'll be pleased to know that your sister gave Raph a thorough beating once you left." Leo said with a hidden grin that I spotted, "He now probably has brain damage, a bruise where no one should have a bruise, and a forever hatred for you and your sister."

"Coralyn, sweet Coralyn." I said, "How can I love someone so much yet want to hit her so hard?"

Leo chuckled, saying "The world may never know." He held out his hand and asked, "So, would you care to get out of this grimy dump?"

"Yes, I think I've had enough of this cesspit for one day. Or three." I said with a grin, taking his green three- fingered hand. I may be two years older than him, but his hand was so much larger than mine that my hand looked like a doll's.

Leo dashed off, running fast enough that I nearly lost my balance multiple times. Within mere minutes, we were close enough to the plant to smell it. "Here we are." Leo decreed, stopping in front of the gaping entrance. Momentum made me keep rolling, but Leo tugged on my arm, and I tripped. Leo caught me in an awkward position, a dip, where I was tipped diagonally and Leo was supporting me. "Are you okay?" he asked me, looking into my eyes. His irises were a sapphire blue so deep that I began to swoon.

"I think." I said, a bit dazed, and stumbled to my feet. Skittering across the slippery floor, I ran headlong into a wall. I untied my rollerblades and said to them, "You are defective."

Leo laughed and said, "Are you sure it's the skates?" I glared at him, but he only laughed harder. Soon, I was giggling too. I am a klutz, and one of the klutziest, if I do say so myself. The purple-banded turtle who I had heard was called "Donnie" appeared in the entryway with his stick, which now had a hook on it. He hooked Leo's bandanna tails and yanked him into the room. Then he snagged the back of my shirt and threw me in, too. I sprawled across the hard, grimy floor, getting a face full of goop. Sitting up, I spat and scraped the gunk off of me, flinging it through the air. Growling emitted soon after. I peered in the direction I had thrown it and saw an angry red-masked turtle with ooze on its head. This is not my day.

Donnie stuck his stick out in front of Raph so that he tripped and said, "She's trying to help us, Raph. At least let her attempt to help before you tear her limb from limb."

"Fine." Raph spat, clambering to his feet, "But I still hate this chick. And the other one."

"I can live with that." I said with a smirk, "As for this video, we have two hours to intercept the footage. Otherwise, anyone who watches the Channel 6 news will know you exist."

"Two hours!" Mikey exclaimed, "What are we waiting for?! Let's go!" He rushed off, Coralyn following him. They vanished through the entryway.

Cor's head popped back in, saying, "C'mon people! Trying to save your necks here!" Leo, Donnie, and I ran off. Raph hesitated, but followed.

At some point while we were running, Donnie stated, "I just thought of something. Couldn't the news agency just done a 'breaking news' broadcast?"

"They could've, but this agency is so lazy that the world could end and they would wait till the next broadcast to tell everyone." I replied.

"I hope you're right." Leo said. A ladder-like shape appeared in the distance. It grew larger and clearer as we approached it. "Here goes nothing." Leo said as he slid the manhole cover to the side and climbed to the surface. The remaining turtles, Coralyn, and I followed.

Bright dawn light made me shield my eyes; sewers are dark and dank places. Once my eyes had adjusted, I saw a huge crowd of people before me. They look scared; women clutched babies tightly; fathers wrapped their arms around their sons; little girls hid behind lamppost. Big military trucks were parked down the whole street. For every scared citizen there was, there was a police officer or a soldier. Roughly fifty red dots were trained on Leo's plastron, and one large one on his forehead. Leo gulped and slowly held up his hands.

**I didn't mean for this chapter to end on such a bad cliffhanger [or maybe I did ;)]** **but it's getting incredibly long. I will probably be working on this for the next few days; sorry for those of you waiting on the next chapter of TMDDMT (I abbreviate all my story titles. Just take the first letter of each word.) **


	5. Chapter 5

**I would like to thank M.R (guest) for your advice, but I believe I will continue to leave the speech in paragraphs, as I am terrible at dividing speech. I hope it is not TOO bothersome if the text I still in large paragraphs.**

"Don't move a muscle." A policeman growled, holding up a pistol. "Oh, trust me, officer." Leo said with a slight smile, "I don't think any of us were going to." "Technically, you just moved roughly fifty muscles to say each word and twenty-two to smile." Donnie stated. "Really." Raph said, "You're going to do that now?" "Accuracy is important." Donnie replied. Raph sighed loudly and facepalmed. Suddenly, a little girl's voice cried, "Mimi!" A small charcoal gray cat with a pink bow on its head leapt out of the crowd and scampered over to the turtles. The jingle bell on its pink collar tinkled as it bound toward them. "They always did say curiosity killed the cat." A man said. "That cat just signed its death warrant." A woman added. Without hesitation, the kitten approached Mikey and started rubbing against his leg. "Aww…." Mikey said, "What a cute little kitty!" He picked up the feline and started rubbing its tummy with his finger. It purred loudly. "Mimi!" the little girl cried again. A little brown-haired girl broke free of the crowd and ran over to the turtles. "Michella! No!" a woman shouted, trying to get to her daughter. Two soldiers held rifles in front of her in an X, stopping her. The girl ignored her and rushed up to Mikey. "The little girl is toast." Someone stated grimly. "Can I have my kitty, sir?" she asked politely. "Sure!" Mikey answered, putting the cat in the little girl's arms. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, beaming, "So you're a turtle man?" "Yep, pretty much." Mikey said, "My name's Mikey." "Pleased to meet you, Mister Mikey!" the little girl exclaimed, shaking Mikey's hand while holding the cat, "I'm Michella!" "And you said humans would never understand us, Donnie." Mikey said to his brother. "Do you not see the umpteen thousand guns pointed at us, Mikey?" Leo replied, gesturing to the collection of laser pointer-like dots covering him. "Oh yeah." Mikey said, smiling in an innocent Mikey-ish way, "I might've forgotten about that." "You don't say!" Raph said in faux surprise. "SILENCE!" a general declared. The turtles stared at the man. "If you are fond of your scaly green heads," he snarled, "You'll start talking. NOW."

"Weren't we just talking anyway?" Mikey asked. "I'll be asking the questions here." The general growled, "What are you, things?" "We're mutated turtles." Donnie decreed. "Mutated? So you're some kind of lab experiment gone wrong or something?" the general asked. "Not really. Some chemicals were being transported and they were spilled on us." Donnie replied, avoiding saying what chemicals and who delivered them. "What have you done with those reporter girls?" the general snarled, pointing his gun at Leo threateningly. "Kiera and Coralyn?" Leo asked, "They're right here." With that, he and his brothers stepped aside, exposing Cor and I where we had been crouching behind them. I smiled nervously and stood up while Cor inched behind Mikey. "Girls!" a voice shouted that I instantly recognized. Our dad darted out of the clump of army men with his camouflage uniform on and swept me up in a bear hug. "Are you okay? Did these things hurt you?" he asked, checking me for bruises and cuts. "I'm fine, Daddy." I answered with a smile, "They didn't hurt me. They're nice guys, actually." Dad looked at me very confused as he said, "Hon, they're TURTLES. Monstrous green turtles." "Thanks for the compliment." Raph growled under his breath. Unperturbed, Dad continued, "Whatever happens with these things I do not want you or Coralyn near them. Not even if they're in a solid steel cage. Understand?" I crossed my fingers behind my back and declared, "Understood. But these things have names, y'know." "Whatever they are, I don't need to know them." Dad said, "But what I do need to know is where that little rascal Cor has vanished to." "Cor's over there behind Mikey." I stated. "Alright." Dad said, "Which one is Mikey?" "The one in the orange mask." I said, pointing to the corresponding terrapin. Cor's curly blonde-haired head peeked out over Mikey's shoulder. She waved before ducking back down. "Did you not just hear what I told your sister? I want you nowhere near the slimy green miscreants." Dad said, snatching Cor and I before dragging us into the crowd. "But Daddy!" I protested, "Those guys are the first friends I've made since I got out of high school!" "You can make more." He replied, "I'll get you a pet turtle if it makes you happy." I tried to resist, but my dad has an incredible grip. I looked backwards and watched the turtles vanish into the crowd. Leo looked so sad that I began to silently cry. Cor looked defeated; she seemed to know we were beat. I solemnly waved goodbye to the turtles through the blurry veil over my eyes. Leo waved back. The look on his face was depressed, so much that it would haunt me every night until I saw his face again.

**I know this chapter is very short but Chapter 6 is going to make up for it. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Finally! Finally I got to see Showdown! Yes! I waited 5 long days but I finally saw it! :D :D :D Now I just have to wait until Season 2 comes out….Ugh. This chapter I will try the separate speech spacing. Please say which one you prefer. I am willing to change all my other stories if needed. **

I stared at my computer screen, utterly depressed. It glared the "blue screen of death", displaying my exact mood. Blue. Once my dad had dragged Cor and I back to our adjoined apartments, he guarded the door and called a locksmith, a computer technician, and a pet store worker. When he finally left, the doors and windows had locks on them, security cameras hung at every corner, and a pet turtle sat in a terrarium next to my tower. As if it wasn't torture enough, the sticker I hadn't bothered to take off the habitat read "Freshwater Turtle #143: Leo" Dad didn't know his name; I guess he couldn't help it when he picked the animal. Any other day I would've loved the unusual over-protectiveness from Dad, but it wasn't any other day. It was the day I had made a new friend, mutant or not. My radioactive blue computer was bumming me out, so I flipped on the TV. Lo and behold, the channel I turn on is Channel 6, playing the footage Cor and I had taped. I flipped the channel, but this one is showing live footage of the turtles. Quickly, I start to scroll through the channels without pausing. Every channel, even the cartoon channels that I occasionally caught Coralyn watching, was showing the turtles, so that it played like a rapidly moving slideshow. Finally, I succumbed to the television and let it play the newsfeed from Channel 6. One of the annoying anchors Coralyn talks about, Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe, was preaching to some poor cameraperson about "Terrapin Terror". The turtles wouldn't hurt a fly unless they had to! Let me rephrase that, the turtles excluding Raph wouldn't hurt a fly unless they had to! Carlos continued saying, "Two novice reporters, Coralyn and Kiera Keller, discovered the lair of four giant mutant turtles. You heard me, turtles. The girls returned unscathed, luckily. Now let's see if we can get an interview with one of these animals." He strolled up to one of the turtles he had just so recently claimed were dangerous, ignoring the protests of the militia and police officers, and asked calmly, "May I have a word with you, sir?" The turtle turned around and….oh god, why did he have to pick Leo?!

"Yes?" Leo asked.

"I'm sure the citizens of New York would love to hear your intentions for the city of New York." Carlos said, pointing a microphone at Leo.

Leo looked confused as he asked, "Intentions? What do you mean by 'intentions?' Keeping my brothers alive is my main intention, and it always will be."

"He's so sweet." I thought. "Face it, Kiera." Cor's voice said. I jumped and looked around, trying to find her. She leaned against the door that led to her apartment, Kingston perching on her shoulder.

"Face it Kiera! Face it Kiera! SQUAWK!" he chirped, beating his wings.

"Face what?" I asked her.

"You know." She answered, crossing her arms.

"No, I don't." I stated.

"It's so obvious!" Cor exclaimed, "You're crushing on Leo!"

"What?!" I shouted, "No I'm not!"

"Crushing on Leo! Crushing on Leo! SQUAWK!" the bird screeched, flying circles around Cor's head.

"Kingston doesn't lie, Kiera." Cor stated, "You like Leo and you know it. Admit it." I started to protest, but she exclaimed, "ADMIT IT!"

I sighed and stared at the ground sheepishly. "Fine. I like Leo." I mumbled, "Happy?"

"Very much so." Cor declared, "I always wanted to play matchmaker."

"What's the point? Dad would kill both of us, and Leo." I moaned, hiding my head in the crook of my arm.

"Haven't you heard the saying 'Love knows no bounds?'" Cor asked.

"Yes, but I'm pretty sure it knows species." I said lamely.

"Whatever. Be depressed and miserable if you want to." Cor said, walking back into her room, "If you need me I'll be trying to jimmy the lock with a bobby pin."

I sighed and continued to stare at the screen. Carlos was saying something about the government making certain 'living arrangements' for the turtles. Living arrangements? I don't like the sound of that. Neither did Leo, as he asked, "What exactly do you mean by 'living arrangements?' We're fine with living in the sewers. It's been working for fifteen years just fine."

"Well, you see, the government can't trust you." Carlos explained, "We don't know enough about you to! So, the kind government has arranged a place for you to stay until we can determine if you are trustworthy."

The edge of Leo's mask rose when he said with a slightly threatening tone, "And what would THAT be?"

"Well, there was some debate over a zoo…." Carlos stated, "But in the end it was agreed that you and your brothers will be staying in a government detention facility." This is not good. Not good at all.

Leo looked horrorstruck as Donnie said in a quavering voice, "You mean….a p-prison?"

"Yes." The voice of the general decreed off-screen before a chainmail net draped over the turtles.

"I didn't want to have to do this…." Leo said, drawing one of his katana, "But you forced my hand."

"He's got a weapon!" a man's voice screamed, and Leo's green skin became flecked with red. Leo stood in shock with a sword in one of his hands, but he quickly regained control, slashing the net in two.

"Make another move and you lose your head." The general threatened.

Leo returned the blade to its sheath with slow exaggerated movements. "Good." The general growled, "Now, are you going to come with me as nice living turtles or dead ones?"

"Why do WE have to come with you?" Raph asked angrily, "YOU'RE the one who invaded OUR lives…."

"Raph." Leo said, laying a hand on his shoulder, "I don't think we have much of a choice in this matter."

Raph hung his head and muttered, "You're the boss."

Handcuffs latched around the turtles' wrists. "The assessment should be completed in a night or two." The general stated, "We will then determine how you will continue living your lives. IF you will continue living your lives."

"I thought slavery was outlawed." Donnie mumbled. I then realized that I had been crying and watching the TV report for over an hour. Somehow I cared more about these creatures than I did listening to my dad. And trust me; I'm the kind of person who follows rules to a T. It may have only been seven o'clock and still light outside, but I crawled into bed. I cried myself to sleep that night, images of Leo clouding my dreams.

The next day my dad drove me to the editor's office, as he claimed he would be doing every day until the turtles had been evaluated. Apparently, his suspicions were that the turtles had brainwashed me and were attempting to use me as a tool to gain control of the world. World domination. How original. He tried to talk to me, asking how my article was going and if I had been keeping up with Mila, but I snubbed him by staring out the window and crossing my arms. That drive was the longest fifteen minutes of my life, as I got hit with a wave of depression whenever I saw anything blue, orange, purple, red, or green, which includes road signs, billboards, bikes, cars, clothes, shoes, and pretty much everything in existence. Dad dropped me off outside the newspaper office and tried to hug me, but I got out of the car the second it stopped and stalked off, not even caring how heartbroken it must've left my dad. As I strode into the building, one of my coworkers, Tara, rushed over to me and exclaimed, "Wow, Kiera! I can't believe you and your sister found giant turtles!" She tapped her head, looking confused. "I was supposed to tell you something….Now what was it…." She mumbled before remembering, "Oh yeah! The boss said he wants you to delete your other article; he wants you writing first-hand about the turtles! You're so LUCKY! I have to write about the stock market. Blah."

"I guess I am lucky." I said, internally groaning. I'd been trying to get the turtles out of my head, and now I had to WRITE about them. I was kind of expecting this, but seriously! COME ON! I would much rather be writing about the stock market like Tara, but I knew even though she didn't like it, Tara should be writing that one. She has a way with words that can make DOW and NASDAQ seem like a New York Times bestseller.

"You look bummed, Kiera." Tara said, "What's up?"

"Nothing." I replied, sounding extremely and utterly depressed.

Tara looked at me with disbelief and said, "Fine, be that way. But I will get it out of you eventually." She walked toward one of the many branching hallways, then stopped and turned on her heel. "I will!" she declared, pointing upward dramatically. I laughed. Somehow Tara had managed to cheer me up without even knowing what had me down. Then I remembered the horrible task I had ahead of me. Moaning, I trudged into my cubicle and powered up Microsoft Word.

Kiera

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Coralyn

Dad watched me like a hawk as I walked across the street into the Channel 6 office. All the lights had been turned out. "She's here." Someone whispered faintly. Suddenly, the lights burst on, and the entire Channel 6 news crew was gathered before me in polka-dot party hats. "SURPRISE!" they cheered, "CONGRATULATIONS CORALYN!"

"Congratulations? What did I do?" I asked confused as Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe, the most popular and experienced anchor at Channel 6 walked up to me.

He laughed and said, "We were wrong to pick Carmen over you, Coralyn. You are a great reporter with amazing potential."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, still confused.

With another laugh, he declared, "Coralyn, we want YOU to be our newest field reporter."

"Are you serious?!" I screamed, jumping up and down.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Carlos said, "You'll be doing a follow-up on those turtles tomorrow. You earned it."

My face fell as I remembered what I had done to get myself here. I thought of how sad Mikey had looked when we were on the roof of the car. I could practically hear him saying, "….I guess we're gonna have to move, now that's someone's found us."

I forced myself to smile. "You can't change the past, Coralyn." I told myself, "Mikey would want you to have this job." A vision of his melancholy face flickered before my eyes. Would he?

Coralyn

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Leo

The annoying army general threw us in the back of a camouflage van. I noticed bloodstains and knife scratches spelling stupid things like "I was here" and "Screw America". "I'm scared." Mikey whimpered, huddling against me.

I probably would've put my hand on his shoulder, but they were hooked together, so instead I said, "We'll be okay, Mikey. They won't hurt us if we don't hurt them."

"Yeah right, Leo." Raph spat, "They'll never trust us in a million years. All these humans want to know is if they'll have to kill us or be able to keep us captive."

I looked to Donnie, mentally pleading that he would say something that would cheer up Mikey. He crushed my hopes by stating, "I have to agree with Raph on this one. Humans will never like us, let alone see us as their equals. There's nothing we can do about it. Humans don't like the thought of anything besides them be able to do things that they think only they have mastered, such as multi-lingual speech, ninjitsu, and thumbs."

Mikey's eyes widened to the point of saucers and tears started to rim at the bottom. "Oh, Mikey." I moaned, giving him the best hug I could with handcuffs on. The car hopped over a bump, and I ended up slamming him into the side.

"Thanks Leo." He muttered. Suddenly, the back of the van opened, and we were dragged out by a quartet of heavily armed men in army uniforms. They marched us into a giant silver building after punching in a number code, saying a voice code, and being administered a fingerprint scan. Donnie could hack those no problem. They left us in a large room with heavy iron doors, alone minus that demon general and some man in a lab coat that reminds me disturbingly of that Dexter Sparkman guy.

"This room has state-of-the-art security." The general stated braggingly, "Solid metal doors; metallically enforced walls; eight guards outside each door. You turtles aren't leaving until we say you leave."

"What do you want us to do?" I asked, standing up.

"You have to somehow prove to me that you do not mean any harm to the citizens of New York." The general declared.

"And how exactly do you expect us to do THAT?" Raph asked angrily.

"Quite simple, actually." The scientist decreed, "A polygraph test should do the trick."

Mikey's eyes widened as he cried, "Oh no! There's a test! I'm so gonna fail!"

"Idiot." Donnie said, "A polygraph is a lie detector."

"Ohhh. So no test?" Mikey said.

"No Mikey. There's no test." Donnie said.

"Which one of you slimy green creatures wants to go first?" the general asked, cracking his knuckles in a menacing way. The scientist wheeled out a machine that looked like an old printer Donnie found in the sewers.

I stood up and stated, "I'll go."

The general strode over to me and dragged me to the machine. "You got a name, turtle?" he grumbled.

"Leo." I replied stonily.

"Well alright, 'Leo'." The general said, "All we're gonna do is hook you up to this doohickey over here and ask you a few questions. When we're all done, the machine will tell us if you're lying or not." With that, he shoved me into a metal chair and strapped my arms and legs to it.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked.

The general answered, "Better to be safe than sorry." He pressed a button on the lie detector and it starting buzzing loudly.

"First question Leo!" the scientist said, having to shout over the noise, "Do you have any malicious intentions for the citizens of New York?"

"No!" I yelled back.

It went on like this for the next hour or so, the scientist asking me silly questions such as "Are you of malicious nature?" and "What is your opinion on world domination?" Finally, the scientist finished the interrogation and the machine printed out an incredibly long sheet of paper. The scientist scanned it over, muttering, "Mhmm."

He handed it over to the general, who then stated, "Well 'Leo'. It looks like you have no intentions of harming anyone in New York City."

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"You're free to leave as long as you wear this tracking device." The general declared, hooking a little silver mechanism to the back of my neck, "But keep in mind, make one wrong move and every police officer and soldier in the state of New York will be hunting for turtle blood. Understand?"

"Yes." I said, "Are you going to release my brothers too?"

"Once they've been proved trustworthy, they will have the same rights as you." the scientist declared, inputting a string of numbers into the machine, "Send one of the others over, would you?"

"Sure." I said. I liked the scientist way better than this general guy; he seems altogether more kind and trustworthy than the general. I walked toward the exit.

"What happened, Leo?!" Mikey asked, "Did it hurt?!"

"It didn't hurt at all. It was really easy." I answered, "If they prove you're trustable, they'll put a tracker on you and let you leave. But they said if we do anything wrong they will kill us."

"So it's like we're on probation?" Raph asked.

"Kinda. They need someone else over there." I declared.

"I'll go." Mikey said, trotting toward the big device.

"So Leo, where are you gonna go now?" Raph asked, "The lair's probably crawling with reporters, Splinter most likely went elsewhere, and April's aunt will never let you near her now that she knows what you are."

"Don't worry, Raph." I said with a sneaky smile, "I know EXACTLY where I'm going."

Leo

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Kiera

I slumped over in the car seat as Dad drove me home. "How was work, honey?" he asked

"Terrible, just terrible." I groaned, "I had to write a front-page story on the turtles for TOMORROW."

"Isn't that a good thing?" he asked, "I mean, I thought you liked those turtle things."

"You don't get it, Dad." I moaned, "I don't want to write about the turtles, I want to see them."

"What is this obsession with turtles, Kiera?!" Dad exclaimed, suddenly angry, "You were just fine until you met these things and all of a sudden you just HAVE to be near them! You are not to be within 5 feet of these things, Kiera! I will get you a restraining order if I have to!"

"O-okay Da-daddy." I answered, stuttering. He was beginning to scare me. He was never this protective; he let Cor go bungee jumping once! But it looked as if he hated the turtles with a passion.

I rode the rest of the way home in silence, letting my dad rant and rave about the turtles and how the government should've killed them off the second it saw them. He drove right past the apartment and continued down the road. I sighed, unbuckled, and jumped out of the car, rolling to break my fall, even though it still hurt my back horribly. Dad rolled right on by, not even noticing the passenger door was wide open. Aching terribly, I limped the few blocks to my apartment and arrived the moment Coralyn did. She was beaming and bear hugged me hard.

"I GOT A PROMOTION, KIERA!" she cried, "I GOT A PROMOTION!"

"You're hurting me." I choked, causing her to release me. Once I was free, I asked, "Didn't Carmen get the promotion?"

"Nope!" she decreed, "They said the turtles' story was so good, and I'm now an official field reporter! I get to do a follow-up on them tomorrow! And guess what?" She didn't wait for an answer before exclaiming, "You get to come too!"

"What?!" I shouted, "They want ME to help?!" Cor bobbed her head happily. Then, Dad's words ran through my head.

"You are not to be within 5 feet of these things, Kiera! I will get you a restraining order if I have to!"

I sighed loudly and moaned, "I can't."

"What? Why?" Cor asked with obvious confusion.

"Dad doesn't want me near the turtles." I said.

"It's Dad, Kiera." She replied, "It can't be that bad."

"He threatened to get a restraining order against them." I said, staring her in the eye. Her breath whistled through her teeth. "Yeah, it's that bad." I stated.

"Geez. I guess you can't help." Cor said, her happiness dropping rapidly.

"It's okay, Cor." I said, "Be sure to get a good shot of Leo for me!" She grinned and dashed inside the apartment building. I frowned once she had gone. I was incredibly disappointed that I couldn't help Coralyn with her first story. I would probably have to write another incredibly lengthy article on the turtles. I thought finding these turtles would be the best thing, but it ended up ruining my life.

I watched, unable to do anything, as my dad chased Leo with a shotgun. "Stop, Daddy!" I screamed, "Don't hurt him!" My dad ignored me, taking aim at the quickly darting turtle. "Please let him miss. Please let him miss!" I silently prayed. Dad fired, and a cloud of smoke covered my vision. Once the smog dispersed, Dad was nowhere in sight, and Leo was lying on his stomach the ground, blood pooling around him. "Leo!" I cried, suddenly gaining the ability to move and rushing over to him. I flipped him over. A bullet hole ran straight through his heart.

"Kiera." He whispered.

"Leo!" I said softly, "What is it, Leo? What do you need?"

He answered mutedly, "I need you to wake up, Kiera."

"What?" I asked.

"Wake up, Kiera." He said, becoming blurry.

"Leo?" I said, reaching a hand out. My hand passed straight through him, as if he were a ghost. Ghost? No!

My eyes shot open. Leo was leaning over me, no bullet holes of any sort. "Leo?" I asked, touching his hand.

"In the turtle flesh." He replied with a smile. I threw my arms around his neck; giving him a hug equal to the one Coralyn nearly broke my spine with that morning.

"Wait, the government took you guys to a prison or something." I stated, "How are you here?"

"Apparently, as long as I don't take off this tracker or do something stupid, I can roam free." He declared, fingering a little machine on the back of his neck.

"And the first thing you did was come and see me?" I asked, grinning.

"Well actually, the FIRST thing I did was find a phone book and figure out your address, THEN I called the apartment building and berated the receptionist till she told me what room you live in, and THEN I came here." He explained.

"The whole place has locks and cameras everywhere." I said, "How did you get in?"

"With a T-phone, a wire cutter, and a paperclip." He stated, holding up said objects, "But I didn't just come here to chat. I wanted to take you somewhere."

"One moment." I said, leaping out of bed and into the bathroom, secretly snagging some clothes. Soon I reappeared in a midnight blue knee-length dress and pumps instead of Tweety pajama pants and tank top and fuzzy green slippers. Leo gawked at me for the longest time, until finally I took his hand and said, "Weren't we going somewhere?"

**Sorry this chapter took so long; I now have to compete with my brother for use of the computer, as he's Minecraft-obsessed. The next chapter is full of Leo/Kiera romance, and a little Karai/Leo/Kiera love triangle. You may want to skip this chapter if you are a total Lerai shipper.**


	7. Chapter 7

**As I said, heavy romance in this chapter, but it holds a lot of plot details. Either skip over it and suffer through the confusion and curiosity, or just read it. **

Leo ducked in the shadows while I strolled normally down the street. "You don't have to do that, y'know." I stated, trying to find him in the dark.

"I know." He replied from behind me.

I spun around and asked, "Weren't you just in front of me?"

"Now I am." His voice declared** . **

"How do you keep doing that?!" I exclaimed, twisting in circles to try and catch a glimpse of him. I got the scare of my life when my vision darkened and I could say nothing. I began to freak out until I heard someone laughing. "The jig is up, Leo." I stated.

"All right. You caught me. Now come on; I want to show you something." He answered, removing his hands and rushing off.

"Wait up!" I cried, "I'm in heels!"

"That's your own fault!" His voice yelled in the distance. I sighed and ran after him, rolling my ankle a few times. Eventually, he stopped next to a tall flat-roofed building with a billboard on the top.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, "This place has been abandoned for years."

"Exactly." Leo replied, sneaking around to the side entrance and slitting the lock's chain.

"I'm not so sure about this, Leo. I'm pretty sure it's illegal." I said nervously, feeling like an epic stick-in-the-mud.

"Kiera, I know what it's like to feel like you have to follow all the rules. I truly do." Leo said, "But I also know what it's like to break loose and ignore rules for a while, and there are some things that are worth breaking the rules for."

I looked at him for a while, startled by the sincerity and depth of what he had said, then pushed him out of the way and strolled into the building.

The place was covered in cobwebs and dust. Musty powder filigreed piles of lumber and old power saws and such. My heel caught on a wire with ratty casing. "Why did he bring me HERE?" I thought.

Leo seemed to read my mind, saying, "It gets better, don't worry." He bobbed and weaved through the dusky debris and yanked open a door that looked like it hadn't been touched in ages. It creaked so loudly that a family of owls shot out of the rafter and flew away from it, squawking in protest. Spider webs netted the door to the frame, but Leo easily sliced them down. Onward he plunged into the dusky mess with not even the slightest hesitation, quite unlike me. A staircase spiraled upward past the door, which I caught a fleeting glimpse of Leo on a landing above. I sprinted after him, trying to catch up. He must have heard my shoes clomping on the stairs, because he stopped and waited for me. When I came close, he rocketed off again. We climbed eight floors before there were any problems. The stairs were decaying and crumbled under my feet, my stilettos were making my feet ache horribly, and I was lagging far behind. I stepped onto a stair and it snapped in two, causing me to fall through. Desperately, I hung onto the next stair, only to have it deteriorate as well. "Leo!" I screamed, clinging to the edge of the stair before. "This is it." I thought, "Dad was right; I should've stayed away from the turtles, and I didn't and now one's led me into a death trap." My grip began to waver; I was the nerd, I didn't have any strength! Just as I thought I was a goner, a green blur flitted across my vision and scooped me up, landing gracefully on the stairway.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked, looking at me worriedly.

"I'm fine now." I said, "But I'll be better when I'm off this stupid thing.

I attempted to get down, but Leo held me firmly and stated, "I've got it." Before I could protest, he had slung my arms around his neck and was carrying me up the staircase.

"He's so strong." I thought dreamily, curling up against him. He grinned and jumped over three broken stairs with no effort. Quickly, he scaled the next four flights and slipped onto the roof through another dusty door. Before he set me down, he scaled the giant billboard and sat at the top. "Whoa." I breathed, staring at all the lights, "This is so pretty. Is this what you wanted to show me?"

"One of the things." He said, fiddling with something under his wrist wraps, "This is the other one." I turned to look at him, and in his hand he held a necklace.

"It's gorgeous." I gasped, "Where did you get it?"

"I made it, with a little help from Donnie." He said, smiling ear to ear, "There were some brand-new chains in the back of the truck they took us to the detention center with."

"You did that all for me?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Leo replied, "Of course."

I examined the necklace. It was silver, with small chain link loops holding it together. A small scrap of blue fabric was woven through the chain. I looked over Leo's shoulder. Part of his bandanna tail had been cut off. With a smile, I said, "I love it."

"Here. Let me put it on." Leo said. He leaned closer until his bandanna tails tickled my nose and hooked the chain around my neck. "There." He whispered. I noticed that he wasn't leaning away; in fact, he was leaning closer. He shut his eyes. I knew exactly what was coming, but I didn't back away. I tilted toward him and kissed Leo right on the lips.

Kiera

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Karai

I hopped from roof to roof, my posse of ninja trailing far behind. "Maybe I can find some thugs to beat on." I thought, scanning the ground for something to do. My eye caught on a figure walking across a rooftop. The large bulge on its back and the two strips drifting off the back of its head told me who it was. "Leo." I said to myself, "This night just got a whole lot better." The ninja lunged forward, but I held my hand up. Something odd was going on here, and I wanted to figure it out. I leapt to the building next to the one Leo was on, and watched from my perch. He was carrying something, something large. Craning my neck, I tried to find out exactly what it was. He set it down on top of a billboard and it turned its head and gazed at its surroundings. What in the….It's a GIRL?!

I jumped onto a tall tower on the building Leo and this girl were on. Leo was talking to the girl and messing with that band he wears on his wrist. He pulled something out of it. The moonlight glinted off it. It was a necklace. A simple necklace, a chain with a blue strap woven through it, but a pretty necklace nonetheless. I could feel my anger rising. Anger and something else. Something I had never felt before, at least not in this way. I wanted what this girl had; I wanted to be where she was; I wanted to be the one Leo gave a necklace to. Suddenly, I realized what it was. I was jealous. Jealous, over something as trifle as LEO. I tried my hardest to deny it, but in my mind I knew it was true. Leo was putting the necklace on the girl. "It's just a necklace." I thought, "It doesn't mean anything." He didn't move back once the necklace was on, though. He kept leaning closer and closer, and he shut his eyes. The girl got nearer. I watched in jealous horror as Leo and the girl kissed. Instantaneously, I drew my blade.

**I warned you, people. I apologize to all you Lerai shippers out there, but don't worry. Karai's not going down without a fight. ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**I promise there is less romance in this chapter. Not much less, but still less. Also, if anyone has any ideas for a cover picture for Turtle, Meet Dragon Dragon, Meet Turtle, please PM me the link. The picture I drew on Paint refuses to load. This starts from Kiera's POV, not Karai's. **

Leo was very hesitant with me at first, as if he wasn't sure if he was doing it right, but he was much better than my first kiss, which ended up giving me mono. Though as I kissed him more passionately, he seemed to let down any barriers he had. When he finally pulled away, his face was a deep purple-green, and his pupils were so wide I swear his whole eye was black. I could feel my cheeks turning a pink color. Leo was smiling in a happily dazed way, the kind of smile you might expect to see on someone in a home for the mentally disadvantaged. He softly breathed, "My first kiss." I smiled in reply and slowly took his hand, making him blush heavily, when a different voice cleared its throat.

Kiera

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Karai

My lips curled into a snarl as Leo and that girl continued to kiss. I pulled out a miniature whetstone and sharpened my knife, even though it was still pointy. Finally, Leo pulled away from the girl, and I tucked the whetstone away. For curiosity's sake, I plucked a string off my shirt and drew my sword through it lengthwise. The thread sliced in half, making me smile maliciously. The two continued to sit there on the billboard, staring at each other like half-wits. I contemplated who I should go for first, Leo or the girl. I decided on pushing the girl off the billboard; seeing Leo's face as she fell to her death would be priceless. Silently, I climbed off the tower I sat on and stood at the base of the ad. I heard Leo whisper, "My first kiss." "It should've been me." I thought, twirling my dagger angrily, slashing the heads off invisible attackers. The girl smiled and took Leo's hand in her own. That was the last straw. I cleared my throat loudly.

"Hello, Leo." I said, staring up at the dumbstruck turtle and his little girlfriend.

"Leave, Karai." He said stonily, glaring at me.

"I can't leave now." I answered, "Things just got interesting."

He repeated, "Leave, Karai."

"I'll leave," I said truthfully, "If you give me what I want."

"Which would be?" Leo asked, gripping the girl's hand a bit tighter.

"Answers." I said.

"Answers to what, Karai?" Leo replied, obviously irritated, "I'm not in the mood for your games. Tell me what you want to know and get the heck OUT OF HERE."

"That's no way to treat a lady, Leo." I declared, jumping on top of the billboard in one leap.

"I said 'Leave!'" he shouted, shoving me.

"Leo…." The girl finally said, "Who is this?"

"That's Karai." He explained to her emotionlessly, "I used to have a crush on her."

'"Used to' was two days ago, Leo." I said stormily, "Up until this girl and her stupid sister barged into your lair and ruined your lives forever." The girl hung her head in shame, and Leo began to protest, but I stopped him. "I thought you liked me, Leo. And I was starting to like you, too." I said, desperately battling to maintain my calm and cool farce, "Then I hear you've been discovered and I'm actually CONCERNED for you. What a mistake I made! I should've killed you when I met you."

"Karai, your dad is dead-set on killing my brothers and me. As far as I knew, you were, too." Leo said, staring me down, "I trusted you, and you created a giant octopus/cat/snake/whatever mutant and left us to take it down. Then I relied on you again, and you attacked me. You attacked April, you allied with the Kraang, and you tried to kill Splinter. Karai, I can't trust you anymore."

I felt tears rising at the bottoms of my eyes, but I furiously blinked them away. "Oh, well." I said, refusing to let my voice quiver. I strode across the top of the billboard and acted as if it were natural. "Let's see how much you trust me after this." I stated. Before Leo could move a muscle, I pushed the girl off the edge of the building, hard enough so that she wouldn't land on the ledge beneath.

"Kiera!" Leo cried, moving as if he were going to jump after her. I rushed over and kicked him. He sprawled on the other side of the thin walkway atop the signboard.

"You aren't ruining this for me." I growled, grabbing Leo by the neck and forcing him to watch the screaming girl fall, "How long will it take for pretty little princess to go splat?"

Karai

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Kiera

I fell through the air, watching that Karai girl beat on Leo. Out of pure terror, I screamed. "How long will it take for pretty little princess to go splat?" I heard Karai snarl. I looked down and calculated. With how fast I was falling, I had two minutes and counting before I hit the ground. Chances of survival, minimal. I tried to remember what Coralyn had said about bungee jumping.

"If the rope snaps, there's a safety hook nearby that you attach it to." Her memory stated. I searched for some type of bar or rope. A chain of discarded curtain rods stemmed from one window to the next.

"That should work." I thought. I feverishly tried to think of something to hook onto it with. I had one minute remaining. Suddenly, an idea came to me. I unstrapped one of my pumps and held the toe in my left hand. "I have to do this just right." I thought. Angling towards the rod, I caught the beam in the niche of the shoe where the heel joins and grabbed the heel with my right hand. The bars screeched and began to slip, but someone on a phone walked up to one of the windows and straightened out the bar. "YES!" I cheered.

"WHAT?!" Karai screamed.

"Go Kiera!" Leo yelled, fist pumping he air and accidentally punching Karai.

She scowled at him and snarled, "A lucky break. But girlie can't hang on forever, especially with those noodle arms."

I looked at my skimpy limbs desperately clutching the shoe. I was no better off now than if I had grabbed the pole with my bare hands, excluding the fact it would've stung horribly. My mind flashed back to the monkey bars at the playground, how I would get to the third bar and not be able to swing for the fourth, desperately hanging onto the bar until I fell. But if I fell now, I would get much more than brush burn and mulch stuck to my knees. Even at the lowered height, the drop would still most likely give me a broken leg, and then that girl would come down and finish me off. I may have saved myself for the moment, but I was still a goner. My fingers hooked around into the shoe in a last-hope attempt to cling on, but my right hand began to slip down the point of the heel. I scrabbled at the top of the shoe, but ended up losing my grip entirely, now only gripping the shoe with my left hand. I tilted it back and forth, balancing on the rod. "This is it." I thought, "Curiosity caught up with the cat, it seems." With that, I took off my other shoe and threw it at Leo, who caught it deftly. I grabbed the bar with my right hand and tossed him the other one. Then, I took a deep breath, and let go of the bar.

Kiera

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Karai

The girl began to fall again, but this time not screaming, just calmly accepting fate. Leo clutched her shoes tightly, crying slightly. I smirked and watched as the girl neared the ground. A feeling arose in me, yet another foreign feeling. It made me wish I hadn't shoved the girl off the building, that I could go back in time and erase that I ever did it. "Oh my God." I thought, "Am I really felling GUILTY?!" Jealously, guilt, I had experienced two emotions hat I had never known. I must be going soft. I battled with myself, trying to stay on the billboard, but guiltiness overcame me, and I jumped off. I grabbed the side of the fire escape and scrambled down like a spider monkey. Quickly, I launched myself off and caught the girl, landing on top of a dumpster. The girl stared at me wide-eyed, incredibly surprised. At least she'd had enough sense not to thank me. I drew my sword and slashed at the necklace, intending to break it in two, but she flinched, and I only gave her a tiny cut on her back. I snarled and lifted up the lid of the dumpster, tossing her in. "I will get you for this." I growled, darting away. I watched over my shoulder as Leo climbed down the escape and retrieved the girl from the trash, strapping her shoes on lovingly. He brushed the trash out of her hair and kissed her on the cheek. "I will finish the job." I vowed to myself, "Someday."


	9. Chapter 9

**After this chapter, I'm going to work more on my crossover Turtles/Eragon story. I've kept those people waiting too long.**

Leo snuck in the window of my room and dropped me off. "Are you SURE you're okay?" he asked, "You took a nasty fall, even with Karai catching you."

"I'm fine, Leo. I really am." I said through the bathroom door, changing back into pajamas. Stepping out of the bathroom, I unclipped my necklace and laid it on top of my dresser. "Goodnight, Leo." I said, kissing him on the cheek. He blushed a vivid red before vanishing out the window. I smiled and crawled under the covers. My sleep was void of dreams, nightmares of my dad killing Leo, taunting my happiness.

The next day, I strode into work, a happy gait replacing my normal pace. Tara walked up to me, looked me over once, and said demandingly "Who is he?!"

"Who is who?" I asked.

"Duh." Tara replied, "The OBVIOUS new boyfriend you have!"

"What makes you assume I have a boyfriend?" I asked.

"You wearing a necklace and make-up, which for you is incredibly unusual, you're practically skipping, you're humming Selena Gomez's 'Love You like a Love Song', and not once throughout this whole conversation have you stopped smiling." She explained, "Now come on! Who is he?!"

"I have no boyfriend!" I exclaimed defensively.

Tara made a pouty face, then loudly began to chant, "KIERA'S GOT A BOYFRIEND! KIERA'S GOT A BOYFRIEND!"

After I managed to hush her, I sighed dejectedly, "Fine. Come over to my place tonight and I'll tell you."

"YES!" Tara cheered, "Be over at five!" She scampered away quickly, papers flying out of the binders she clutched.

"What on Earth did I just get myself into?" I moaned.

After work, I hid in my room, praying Tara would forget about tonight. The second the clock chimed five I heard a knock at the door. I groaned, and went to answer it. Tara rushed inside and sat cross-legged on the floor. "Spill." She demanded.

"His name's Leo." I admitted, sitting on the couch, "He has bright blue eyes, and in my tallest heels I'm almost exactly his height."

Tara nodded after every clause, staring at me intently. "How did you meet?" she asked.

"Uh…." I droned, trying to think quickly. I'd hoped to not immediately tell Tara that Leo was one of the turtles. Who knew what she would think?! I might be forever shunned! "In the crowd!" I exclaimed, "The day I met the turtles! I met him when my dad took us into the crowd!"

Tara raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but then continued on as if nothing happened. She asked, "So, when do I get to meet this 'Leo'?"

My eyes nervously searched the room for an excuse. They settled on a picture of my dad in his army jacket. "He's in the military." I lied, "He's getting deployed once everything with the turtles dies down."

"Oh, well that stinks." Tara said, "Long-distance relationships don't often turn out well."

"I have a hunch this relationship will turn out just fine, no matter the distance." I said. The distance may not be very far physically, but there the gap between phyla.

"Whatevs." She said, "Hey, speaking of turtles, isn't your sister doing a story on the turtles, like, right now?"

"You're right!" I exclaimed, turning on the TV, "I nearly forgot!"

"I'm here at the government facility that has become a temporary home for the turtles." Coralyn stated, "Until living arrangements suitable for these odd creatures' needs can be made, this detention center will do. The camera cut screen to that bossy general. The name "Gen. Gordon A. Spite" scrolled across the bottom. His last name is Spite?! How fitting! "General, what efforts are you making to ensure that these interesting organisms are equipped with a hospitable home environment?" Cor asked, holding the microphone up to the man and "unintentionally" jabbing him with it.

"My best men are working to make sure the turtles have a good home within the next week." Spite stated. Yeah, right. If the universe makes your last name SPITE, you might not be the most trustworthy person. Suddenly, a teenager in a lab coat and an army member, who was my dad (how ironic?), rushed out of the building.

While my dad blazed past Cor and Spite, the teen stopped. "Sir!" he cried, "The tracker feed shows that one of the turtles was trespassing on private property last night."

"WHAT?!" Spite screeched, "WHERE?!"

"The old abandoned lumber plant, sir." The boy sputtered, obviously scared.

"That place! That doesn't matter! All we can do is give the boy a warning. Which one was it?" Spite said.

"The eldest." The boy replied, "Leonardo."

My breath caught. I had assumed it was him they were referring to, but hearing his name mentioned sent me over the edge. The boy removed a tablet and played with it for a bit before holding it up to the camera, the screen displaying a picture of Leo walking out of the building. He was glancing upward at the camera, displaying his sapphire eyes in a perfect light. Tara looked back and forth from me to the TV, then gasped, "O. M. G. Leo is the turtle?!" So much for not wanting her to know.

"You're dating one of the turtles?!" she exclaimed.

I looked down and nodded sheepishly.

"Aww….that's so cute." Tara said, "It's like Stockholm Syndrome, but not."

I stared open-mouthed at her. My big reveal, my boyfriend is a turtle, and she declares it CUTE?! I was bewildered yet incredibly happy.

"Don't look so shocked, Kiera!" she exclaimed, "Now, tell me everything! Leave no detail out!"

So I recited everything that had happened, from meeting Leo in the sewers to last night's kiss to my encounters with Karai. Tara happily nodded; commenting whenever she thought was needed. When I was finished, the door burst open, nearly swinging off its hinges and Dad ran in and stole me away.

"See you tomorrow, I guess!" Tara cried, "Good luck with the new relationship! I won't tell a soul!" Except, of course, she told the only soul that mattered, my dad.

"New relationship!" Dad screamed, "Who is he?!"

"Dad, where are we going?!" I hollered back.

He stormed out of my apartment building and took off down the sidewalk. "There's a sensor in that turtle's tracker." He explained, "It sensed your DNA or heat signature or whatever it senses with that turtle last night."

"This still doesn't explain where we're going!" I yelled.

"I want that turtle DNA off you. Who knows what kinds of diseases those things may have picked up?" he replied, dashing into a big sciency-looking building. He handed me over to a trio of men in lab coats and those aqua blue masks a dentist wears. They placed me in a big glass chamber and locked the door, one of them in with me.

"Okay, Kiera." He said, removing a rag, "We're just going to use this disinfectant to remove any germs you may have touched within the last 48 hours." Disinfectant? I officially hate my dad right now.

He rubbed the cloth across my hands and feet, and man does that stuff sting! Kindly leaving my clothes on, he rubbed the stuff across the rest of my body, ignoring certain areas. The man pressed himself against the room's side as a green laser ran over me. "Sir, it seems that there is a large amount of turtle DNA in certain areas." One of the scientists outside decreed.

"What areas?" my dad asked, death staring me.

"The hands, feet, and lips." The scientist stated.

"Oh, okay. Those are normal spots." My dad said calmly, then, looking as if a train hit him, asked, "What was that last one again?"

The scientist repeated, "The lips, sir."

Dad looked as if someone had dyed his face with fire as he glared at me. "Kiera." He hissed in a forced calm voice, "Is there someone you would like to tell me about?"

"Someone I would LIKE to tell you about? No, not particularly." I replied.

"Let me rephrase that." He snarled, "Is there someone you are GOING to tell me about?"

"Well, I have a new boyfriend." I said, trying to act nonchalant, "His name's Leo."

"THAT IS IT!" my dad screamed, "At first I thought it was just curiosity that made you interested in these things, but no! Now I see they have you brainwashed by making you somehow think you're in LOVE with one of them! I thought you were smarter than this, Kiera! Looks like there's only one thing to do about it!" With that, he yanked out his cell phone and furiously punched the keys. It rang, and the person on the other end picked up. "Yes, General Spite?" my dad asked, "I have received crucial evidence towards the killing of the turtles. Yes, I said KILLING. They have brainwashed my daughter, BRAINWASHED, into thinking she loves one of them! You must have them killed, NOW! Thank you, General Spite." He hung up and said to me, "Say good-bye to your little green boy toy, Kiera. It's for the best."

**I'm so evil! Now the turtles have an evil general AND a mean dad after them! **


	10. Chapter 10

**I have decided to continue with this story instead of my new sequel to WHIDN. For all of you who have been anxiously waiting to see what Kiera does about her dad (yes, he is supposed to be an overprotective, stubborn, butt-faced jerk), here you are. If you've been looking forward to seeing what Tsarina does about Karai, sorry, but you are being forced to wait.**

I wished that a shooting star was rocketing across the sky at this very moment. Then I wished my eyes had laser powers. I glared at my dad with what I assumed was enough hatred-fueled power to at least harm him, though I was going for setting his face on fire. Sadly, my laser stare of death had no effect, whether it was I have no death laser powers or that there was glass between us, the world may never know. I stalked out of the chamber, taking care not to smash the fiberglass door. I wasn't angry at the scientists; they had just been doing their job. My anger was directed toward my overbearing, mulish, heartless, father who was more cold-blooded than Leo.

He had always been prejudice; it was how my grandparents raised him, blacks are beneath you, women are beneath you. Though usually he kept his feelings underground, doing little, otherwise unimportant acts, like treating his nephews better than us on occasion and refusing to let Cor or I play with the nice little African American twins across town, Bo and June. This was another story, though. Whereas with blacks and Asians and Mexicans, he just treated them like you might a sibling to an old high school crush you had a nasty break up with, he treated Leo and his brothers like you might poisonous vermin running round your home. You want them out of your lives, IMMEDIATELY.

I stormed past my dad, refusing to even acknowledge his presence.

"Kiera." He moaned.

Still I pretended he was not there. To annoy him even more, I acted like I had heard something, a whisper in the wind, then dismissed it and continued walking.

"Come back here, young lady." He demanded, anger hinting in his voice.

I kept walking. If anything, I began to walk faster.

"Kiera Anita Keller, listen to me!" he exclaimed.

At this point, I would've usually broken my silence, relinquishing to the punishment, a grounding of a day or so, before he truly became angry. Not today. The rhythmic sound of my shoes on concrete was all that mattered. He could do what he wanted, but he would never break me.

"I forbid you from seeing that turtle ever again!" he shouted.

Ha ha, as if. Where do you think I'm going now? Actually, that's not where I'm going, but you get my point. Just to spite him, I whipped out my iPhone and hit one of my contacts. I held the Smartphone up to my ear.

Hi Leo, it's me." I said loudly, exaggerating my cheery I-have-a-brand-new-boyfriend-and-there's-nothing-y ou-can-do-about-it smile, "I'm doing fine, great, actually. But look, there's something I need to tell you."

I dropped my voice to a low whisper and relayed to him what had just passed. His first reaction was shock, then anger, then, to my dismay, fear. I had hoped he would have a clever solution, an escape route, a daring mission accompanied by horrible, groan-inducing comebacks that I thought were adorable. Or at least if he didn't, Donnie would. He stated my dad was a jerk, evil, the equivalent of Shredder (I am not sure what the appliance has to do with anything), and many words in Japanese I'm assuming are insulting due to his tone.

Returning to using my overly happy cheerleader tone and grin, I exclaimed with pep, "I know, right! Anyway, I'll see you later." I made a loud kiss noise. "Love you. Bye." I slipped the phone in my pocket and slammed the door behind me. I fastwalked to my apartment. I had something very important to do.

Kiera

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Leo

I hung up the phone and returned it to its spot on my belt. The second I did, Mikey began to loudly chant, "LEO'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND! LEO'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!"

"So what if I do?!" I snapped, not wanting to deal with Mikey's antics. Kiera's message had me worried. I had known the general public wouldn't immediately accept us; there was no way they would. But now I realized the full gravity of it. It wasn't as much that they feared us; it was that they disliked us. Hated us, even. It might've just been better to stay underground, let Kiera and Coralyn be dismissed as nut jobs.

I vigorously shook my head. Fear was clouding my thoughts. I had to tell the guys; we have a right to know if there's a death warrant out for us, even if we aren't humans.

"Guys, Kiera just called…." I said.

"Yeah, your GIRLFRIEND!" Mikey shouted before I could continue.

Donnie leaned over and muttered, "You feel my pain."

"Her dad just sent that general, Spite, a warrant for our death," I stated somberly, "And he accepted it. Technically speaking, we are now wanted criminals."

They all stared at me for a moment, before Donnie quietly asked, "Why?"

"Apparently, we have been accused of brainwashing Kiera, and possibly Coralyn, into liking us." I said, "Its bull."

Again I was stared at, more like glared at on Raph's part. It was him who broke the silence, exclaiming, "Nice going, Leo! You just couldn't let her go! First this girl gets us put in prison, and then you turn around and go and KIDNAP the girl and nearly get her killed to give her a freaking NECKLACE! Not to mention Karai is now ticked at us, more than she was before, AND we are now criminals! Her dad was right. You should leave this girl alone."

I stared at Raph, attempting to find words to convey what I was feeling. I consented to murmuring, "You just don't get it."

Raph glowered at me, green eyes on fire, but it was not him who spoke, but Donnie.

It was a faint whisper, so soft I very well could've imagined it. It said ever so softly, "I get it."

Never before had I realized how deep Donnie's affection for April ran. I always thought it had been a little crush, maybe just the connection because she was the first girl he had ever seen, or maybe something he clung on to because he was too embarrassed to let go. It may have just been that Kiera is my April. Either way, I saw it now; I felt so bad for him, not knowing if she liked him or not.

"Thanks, Donnie." I mumbled back.

He smiled and stuck his tongue through the gap between his teeth. Weirdo.

"I gotta go." I stated, walking off while dodging curious looks from bystanders.

"Why?" Mikey asked, "To see your GIRLFRIEND?!"

"Stick it in your shell." I spat. Man, can he be annoying.

By habit, I kept to the shadows as I headed toward Kiera's apartment. Then I realized what I was doing, and that my shadow-stalking might portray a creepy image. I cautiously tiptoed onto the sidewalk and was immediately absorbed by the rushing river of people. The crowd carried me in the opposite direction, pushing and shoving. I walked against them, trying to get into the group of people going the other direction. The throng once again swallowed me whole.

"Watch it, turtle!" some woman spat.

"Get out of the way, you slimy reptile!" a man shouted as I passed, not even touching him.

"Those things belong in a zoo," someone stated, "not on the streets."

"Somebody call Animal Control!" a teenager yelled, causing a group of his cronies to burst out laughing.

"That's a good idea!" I retorted, "Make sure to tell them to bring you a muzzle!"

"They should bring you a rabies shot!" he yelled back.

"Imbecile." I thought, "Turtles can't get rabies."

Instead of saying that aloud, I just vanished back into the shadows, not caring if I was perceived as 'creepy' or 'stalkerish'. It was better than being harassed by teenage humans who don't know a reptile from a mammal.

"Aw, is the turtle man gonna go cry to his mommy?" the brat said. Snickers emitted from his general area.

"Sea turtles abandon their eggs." I thought, "Seriously, isn't this common knowledge? According to Donnie it is." Instead of responding, I just continued on my way. A kunai slipped my hand and just happened to get stuck in that teenager's ball cap. That'll show him.

I was uncomfortable with sneaking in Kiera's window again, so I dashed through the lobby and up the stairs. I was NOT risking being trapped in an elevator with New Yorkers. Who KNOWS what some of those weirdoes would do? Her floor wasn't that high up, so I reached it pretty quick. I knocked on her door and impatiently waited for a response. When she didn't answer, I knocked again. After a few more seconds, I tried the knob (Yes, I know I'm impatient.) and the door opened.

The living room was empty, completely void of objects. Even the cloud-patterned curtains and sky-blue carpeting were gone, leaving only papered walls depicting sunsets and rainbows and ratty hardwood floors. I checked the room number, though I was positive it was the right one. Covering the room number's plaque was an oversized sticky note. I pulled it off the door. Kanji was carefully printed down the paper with a beginner's hand. The lines were wavy and crooked, but still legible. The first line read, "Dear Leo,"

"Kiera can write in Japanese?" I wondered. I continued reading.

"You probably have noticed the apartment is empty." It stated, "It's supposed to be. I'm moving. My dad had been trying to rule my life lately, and I hate it. I'm not taking any chances, so I'm moving to Brooklyn. I managed to find a place for cheap with a manhole in the basement. Wink wink. It will add a half hour to my commute, but I figure it's worth it to escape my dad. You guys can hide out in my basement any time you need. See you on the flip side, Kiera. P.S. If you're wondering, it took me a few hours on Google Translate to get this note into Japanese. Better to be safe than sorry."

I smiled.

Leo

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Kiera

As I walked into work, I immediately noticed people looking at me strangely. People would pass me by and whisper to the people next to them behind their hands. Some of my most friendly co-workers stared at me with disgust. Tara ran up to me with her hands held up, as if to show me she didn't have anything.

"I didn't do it! I swear!" she exclaimed.

"Do what?" I asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know!" she shrieked, "I KNOW I didn't tell anyone anything and I have no idea HOW someone figured it out…."

I grabbed Tara by the shoulders before she could continue. Tara can be very smart, like Thomas Edison smart, but if you get her scared or nervous or excited, she tends to turn into a total ditz brain.

"Tara. What happened?" I said slowly.

She struggled to yank a newspaper out of her messenger bag. She held it in front of my face, shaking terribly. It wasn't our paper; it was our worst rival's, the Wall Street Journal. With how much Tara was trembling, it was very hard to tell, but the front page picture seemed to show the side of one of the turtles, with another blurred figure next to it. I snatched the paper from her and held it steady. The picture showed one of the turtles, whom I recognized as Leo, sitting on the edge of a rooftop, with the blurry figure being me. I realized the photo was of our kiss. In thick black letters across the top of the page was the headline, "New York Times writer in scandalous relationship with turtle?"

**I feel so bad; I'm so mean to Leo and Kiera. I kinda want to move them to a deserted island and make this a happily ever after story. Oh well; they'll survive. Or will they? ;)**


	11. Chapter 11

**For those of you who aren't following TVTIT as well as AHM (which you shouldn't be), you are not aware that I, the most horrible multi-tasker in earthen existence, am attempting to write chapters for two stories at the same time. If one of the stories has a delay, it either means I'm in the middle of a chapter group for the other story or I am drowning in Algebra homework.**

"Are. You. Serious!" I exclaimed, "This cannot be happening!" I threw the paper on the ground in disgust and held my forehead in my hand. Within seconds I had begun to tear up. I'm very bad about that; I tend to start crying over little things like stubbing a toe or getting in a fight. I've had a fair share of good wholesome locker-room shower-stall cries. "Who took this picture?" I whimpered, somehow keeping my voice steady.

"I'm not sure. The photo contributor is anonymous." Tara stated, pointing out the fine-print caption underneath my full-color humiliation, "That means it couldn't have been any photographers or reporters from the Wall Street Journal or anyone looking for fame. Whoever it was was smart enough not to share a name so that you or Leo couldn't track them down. That leaves out about half of New York City."

"Yeah. I guess. But that still leaves half of an umpteen-billion population!" I replied, "Who knows? It might've been some freaking tourist from New Mexico that I'll NEVER find!"

As I wallowed in sorrow for myself and empathy for Leo and his brothers, Tara studied the discarded newspaper. "Hey Kiera. Does this tell us anything?" she asked, pointing to another segment of the paper.

I dried my eyes and squinted at the picture. The dark night tones made it difficult to discern many shapes, but I did notice a slightly different colored smudge under Tara's observant finger. I retrieved the paper and mentally apologized to whatever tree (or trees. Newspapers consume unbelievable amounts of paper.) I had just abused. The grayish smudge, upon closer examination, turned out to be a thumb. The thumb of whomever the photographer was. Shiny metal plated the digit, black cloth peeking out between its ridges. The brilliance of the silver reminded me of something, someone.

It hit me like a lightning bolt would a sequoia tree. "Karai." I whispered, so soft that no one but Tara or I would here.

"Ka-who?" she asked.

"Karai. She's Leo's ex. It was really one-sided for a while, but when Leo and I got together, she suddenly became obsessed with him." I explained, mentally berating myself for not thinking of it earlier.

Tara's eyes widened slightly as she said, "You mean he had a girlfriend before you? I thought he was a mutant who lived in the sewers and didn't talk to ANYBODY."

I shrugged. "All I know is she's out to get me." I replied, "She nearly killed me. Literally. She shoved me off a skyscraper."

Tara's eyes reached the point of saucers as she exclaimed, "Oh my God are you okay?! Where is she?! I'll kill her for you!" She fake-menacingly pounded her fist into her hand before breaking out laughing. "Seriously though, are you okay?" she asked, "No offense, but why aren't you dead?"

"She ended up saving me from certain doom….for some unknown reason." I answered, "But still, this doesn't just hurt me, it hurts Leo and Raph and Donnie and Mikey and anyone else they know. If anyone finds out she was Leo's girlfriend, she'd be an outcast! Just like I probably am."

"Don't worry. I will go to my office right now and type up a story on how Karai is the ex-girlfriend of a mutant turtle." She declared, storming off to her cubicle.

I let her get about three-fourths of the way there before yelling, "Wait!"

Tara looked over her shoulder at me and mouthed, "What?"

I shook my head slowly and mouthed, "Don't."

"But…." She started to lip-sink.

"No." I silently declared, cutting her off.

She shrugged, mouthed "Whatever.", and walked away.

I sighed. My conscious took sides and began to battle it out.

Conscious 1 yells "What did you do?! Karai just trashed your social life, made you an outcast, and possibly destroyed your career, and you take PITY on her?! You've gone insane! You need to chase after Tara right now and tell her to write up that story! Better yet, do it yourself!"

Conscious 2 waits patiently for Conscious 1 to finish. "You did the right thing." It says softly, "Remember the Golden Rule. Do unto others. You're being the bigger person. Karma will reward you soon."

"Are you even listening to this?! Go to Tara right now and have her write the trashiest news story in existence. Make this Karai look like a whorish zoophile!" Conscious 1 demands.

"No, Kiera. Aggravating Karai can only make things worse." Conscious 2 answers whisperingly, "It would only make Leo look worse than he does now. That's not what you want. We need to make Leo look like a hero, someone everyone will like, not a player."

"Wait! If people know Karai was Leo's girlfriend, she could testify for him!" Conscious 1 exclaims, "Bet you never thought of that."

Conscious 2 begins to get angry. Struggling to maintain her persuasively calm voice, she replies, "Or she could testify against him. You know what she did to us when she saw us with Leo. Imagine what she'd do to us if we spread the word she is the ex-girlfriend of a mutant. Imagine what she might do to LEO."

Conscious 1 shuts up, unwilling to admit Conscious 2 has a good point. I wedge myself between the halves of my consciousness and stated in horror, "I just thought of something terrible."

Conscious 1 acknowledges me with a grunt and a movement equivalent of a conscious's head nod. Conscious 2 looks at me concernedly and silently begs me to continue.

I asked my consciousnesses, "What's my DAD gonna do?"

Kiera

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Coralyn

I moaned as I read the front page story of the Wall Street Journal, the one my coworkers had insisted I see. Some anonymous jerk had given the papers a picture of my sister and Leo kissing. The words 'zoophile', 'bestiality', and 'pervert' came up nearly every other sentence. The evil writer named Jenica Wang went on talking about Kiera and Leo like they were some type of modern day Romeo and Juliet. Except I bet Juliet didn't have front page news articles about her 'scandalous inter-species relationship'. I sure as heck hope Leo and Kiera don't become modern-day Romeo and Juliet. Otherwise I'm gonna be missing a sister soon.

I wish we had been able to steal that footage before it went live. I wish I hadn't been determined enough to search the sewers for that picture. I wish I'd never even suggested looking for that picture's source. Leo, Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and now Kiera wouldn't be in this mess if not for me. True, it was Mikey who had sent Kiera the picture, but I was the driving force behind it, the one who insisted on looking for them. If not for me, Kiera would still be living next door, my dad wouldn't have put me in a super mega lockdown, and the turtles would be living the life they always had been before I just HAD to interfere.

I don't know why Dad had to lock me up like an animal (Seriously, right now KINGSTON has more freedom than me.) I wouldn't be near the turtles anyway. I've caused them too much trouble. They probably hate me; at least Raph does. And maybe, just maybe, I'm a teensy-weensy itty-bitty bit scared of them. Saving them from society wasn't the only reason I wanted to steal the video, though it was the main one. It was partly because I was scared of what they might do to Kiera and me if we didn't.

I feel so backwards. Usually I'm the spunky daredevil one who would chase after a biker boy while Kiera is the calm little angel nerd who does nothing worse than staying up past her bedtime to watch reruns of Lost in Space and The Big Bang Theory. Now it's reversed. I'm the scaredy cat hiding in my room watching TV and hugging my pillow while Kiera is the bold and daring rule breaker with the unapproved of boyfriend. What the heck happened here?!

My turmoil of thoughts was interrupted by the screech of my squeaky, un-oiled door hinges. What? Who knows my lock code besides me, Dad, Kiera and….oh, duh. Footsteps tramp through the house, doors swinging in their wake. The door to my bedroom snaps open to reveal a 6'3" figure in a Nike t-shirt and grease-colored jeans. His hiking boots leave prints the color of the oil streaks in his dirty blonde crew cut. He sits on the bed and throws his arm around my shoulder, completely oblivious to my obvious pain.

"Hey babe." He said, kissing my cheek.

"Shoes." I stated.

"Oh yeah, right." He answered nonchalantly. He untied his boots and flung them through the open doorway.

This is Chase McCain, my so-called 'boyfriend'. At 21 years old, he's the most popular of our Channel 6 field reporters. He's the kind of guy that can get all girls to ogle him, from pre-teens to seniors. Basically, he's the Justin Bieber of reporting. You either adore him, or you despise him. Guess who belongs to the latter group but is still lucky enough to be stuck as his girlfriend?! Me! Yay.

Chase seems to think I am an adoring fan who weaseled her way into getting a reporting job to be around him. Um, NO. I hate this guy and have tried to break up with him once a week for the exhaustingly long year of our relationship. Some of my coworkers expect him to propose soon. If he does, I'm gonna strangle him. He doesn't understand that when I'm trying to break up with him, it doesn't mean we had a 'little fight' and you can come to my house again the next day, it means LEAVE ME ALONE. I don't want to be your arm candy and I never did. Find some model to take to the bar with you; I'm underage anyway.

I throttle my fuzzy green pillow and pretend its Chase's neck. He doesn't notice my behavior and says, "Hey Cor, you'll never believe what happened to me today in the field."

I didn't answer.

"These three girls came up to me and insisted I date them." He rambled on, "All of them! At once! Can you believe them?"

I remain silent. My pillow is beyond suffocation.

He doesn't even pause before he goes into his next spiel. "Hey Cor, my buddies heard about this new pub downtown that opens at midnight." He said, "So be ready by twelve-thirty. We need to be fashionably late."

"What makes you think I want to go?" I asked stonily, forming more of a statement than a question.

"Why wouldn't you? We'll have a great time. I'll buy you a beer; just because." He jested, nudging my arm with his elbow.

I sighed and replied, "I'm seventeen. I can't drink."

"Come on Cor." He bellyached, "You could pass for 22 easy. Whatever happened to my crazy girl who downed three martinis without a backward glance?"

"I'm not your crazy girl. I'm whoever's crazy girl I want to be." I snapped, fuming underneath a snippy and tired ruse. I released my pillow, deciding it had suffered enough.

"What's your problem, Cor?" he asked, "Is something wrong?"

15.22. 15.22 minutes it took him to notice. I think that's his all-time best. His all-time worst: when he didn't notice at all. I tried to break up with him twice that week. Instead of answering him, I stared at the carpet and shoved the newspaper in his face. It took him all of five minutes to read the headline and understand why it ticked me off. Isn't he such a sweetheart?

"Oh yeah, I did hear something about your sis dating that lizard." He stated, "It must be pretty embarrassing having a sister who thinks an animal is hot, huh?"

I stared at him in disbelief. He actually though the reason I was so depressed is because I was embarrassed?! Yes, it is a little weird when your twin swoons over a reptile, but he makes her happy, so I'm not complaining. I thought about saying this, but arguing with him over it would be pointless. "He's a turtle." I muttered.

"Turtle, lizard, there's no difference. They're both green and slimy." He retorted, flipping through the paper so fast he couldn't be reading it. He stopped somewhere in the middle and peered at it with intensity, the effort it was taking him to decipher the words evident in his confused expression. I looked over his shoulder and facepalmed. He was reading the comics.

It took the rest of an hour to convince Chase to leave, and then only by promising him I would meet him at this tavern in the shortest, most low-cut dress I owned at twelve-thirty. I considered going incognito just to see the look on his face when I didn't show. He would probably be bragging to his friends about his sexy supermodel girl who would do whatever he asked. If I were there, I would escape to the bathroom and tell the most desperate group of drunken girls that there was an available hottie. The look on Chase's face would be priceless. Though getting an intoxicated chick to talk to Chase was tempting, I wouldn't go. I knew I was pushing it (whatever it is), but my conscious wouldn't let me do anything else until I did what it wanted.

Ever heard of the phrase 'heard it through the grapevine'? Ever wondered how hard and annoying it would be to try and retrace a grapevine? That's what I was trying to do. Stemming from what knowledge I managed to find in New York patrons, I went on a wild goose chase to track down the turtles, one in particular. It seemed whoever I asked had heard it from so and so, but then the turtle wasn't there, so I had to find so and so, figure out who THEY heard it from, and repeat the process uncountable times until I finally found the guy I was looking for.

The smell reached me before the sight, toxic green waves of stench drifting through the air, only increasing in strength as I neared where I had been told Mikey had been known to reside. I doubted he was here at first, thinking this was some kid's idea of a hilarious prank, sending me to a sewage plant. Hardee har har. But when I saw a lone figure atop some kind of sewer silo with a pizza box perched next to it, I knew I had finally found him.

The closer I got to the 'silo', the more I realized its height, and how impossible it would be to get to the top of. Mikey must have the flexibility of a reptilian acrobat, and the strength of a turtle/elephant. When I was right next to it, it looked to be the height of a small skyscraper, coated with emerald sludge. A metal staircase, and by staircase I mean a series of iron planks without a handrail, spiraled up the tower. It too was coated in jaded gunk, crusted to the metal planks. With slow exaggerated movements, I began to climb the stairs, waving my arms wildly. I may be a daredevil girl most of the time, but Kiera and I seemed to have switched roles; she seemed more likely to scale a slippery flight of steps covered with sewage at the moment then me. After slipping quite a few times, I finally made it to the rounded dome atop the tower.

Mikey looked up from his dish and exclaimed, "What the heck are you doing here?!"

Breathing heavily, I choked out, "Came….to….apol….ogize."

"Apologize?" he asked, "For what?"

"Everything. All things in general." I panted.

"You're forgiven….for whatever it is you think you did." He said, "Sit down. Have some pizza. You look like you just ran up a skyscraper or something."

I gave him a look. "No kidding." I stated. I sat down and Mikey handed me a piece of what was supposedly pizza, coated in jalapeños, jellybeans, and other unidentifiable toppings. "You said this was pizza, right?" I asked.

"Yup." He declared with a mouthful of whatever the substance was, "Try it. You'll like it."

I once again examined the strange food. I cautiously licked the tip of the slice. Mikey frowned and shoved the slice into my open mouth. "You have to chew it, silly!" he said.

Somehow I managed to force myself to swallow the pizza. I grimaced and shivered in disgust. Mikey looked at me expectantly. "Mmm." I said, giving a thumbs up. He smiled and took a huge bite out of his slice. I made sure he wasn't looking before hurling it off the edge.

"I'm seriously sorry." I stated.

"Sorry for what?" he replied, spitting 'pizza'.

"For getting you guys into this whole mess." I said, "If I hadn't been so stuck on finding you, you'd still be living underground and doing whatever it is you guys do."

"We mostly train." Mikey said, "And eat. And sleep. Y'know, that kinda stuff."

He didn't wait for me to answer before declaring, "But I don't mind being up here with all you people. There are nice people out there. Like you."

"What about the mean people? The ones who think you should be in a zoo or a science lab?" I asked.

"They don't matter. I only care about the friendly ones." He stated.

I said with a slight smile, "Well, I guess that's a good thing."

"You have to look at the bright side." He answered, reaching for another slice of the food he claims is pizza (I'm not convinced.), "Sure, there are some people who want to kill us and dissect us and hang our shells on walls, but there's also people who like us and want to be friends with us and understand that we're people too. We're not normal people, but we're people."

"Huh." I said, "I thought Raph said you were the dumb one."

"I am." He replied.

"Well, you just said something really smart." I decreed.

"We are talking about me, right?" he asked, seemingly confused.

"Yes." I laughed, "What you just said sounds more like something that would come out of Aristotle's mouth than yours."

"I have no clue who that is but I will take that as a compliment!" he exclaimed.

"Aristotle. You know, the philosopher? Student of Plato? Who was a student of Socrates?" I prompted, "Ringing a bell?"

"What do bells have to do with anything?" he asked.

The look of sheer, honest confusion on his face made me laugh uncontrollably. Soon Mikey joined in. Before I knew it, I was practically crying from laughing so hard. A slightly familiar voice, with more of a nasally tone, finally ended my hysterics.

"Coralyn?" the voice asked, sounding as if it had a head cold, "Is that you?"

I leaned over the edge of the tower, perfectly aware of the high risk of falling off. Below me stood Chase, pinching his nose with a white tee. I glanced at my phone. 1:00 A.M. I spat some unpleasant words.


	12. Chapter 12

**I do not own 'Before He Cheats' by Carrie Underwood or TMNT or 'White Lightning' alcohol.**

**TO ALL OTHERS EXCEPT THE GUEST ARIA, PLEASE SKIP THIS NOTE. THE ITEMS WITHIN APPLY ONLY TO HER.**

**Dear Miss Aria, **

**I'm not sure if I understood exactly what you want me to do with the story. The all caps did not bother me so much as the lack of quotation marks and large amount of sentence fragments. I found it hard to tell who was speaking or performing an action. I have gotten a tip from many people to make each person's speech a different paragraph. I hope this helps; onto the translation, as I call it. **

**Correct me if I'm wrong, but you wanted Leo to beat up Chase (not sure why; Leo's with Kiera, remember. Mikey is the one with Cor.) You want something called a GPS Mack involved, with a sound system. **

**You want Leo (I'm guessing) to say "Get away from my brothers. We saved this planet from the Techno-Terror-Drome (I like the name. It's very clever.) This is the repayment we get? Leave her alone. Or else." **

**You want Chase to answer "Or what?" **

**You want Leo to chuckle and say "You want my shell on a wall? Get out before I have your arm as a bat. (I also like this, though I think it's a bit to vicious for Leo. Raph, definitely. Donnie around April, possibly. Leo, I don't think so.) You want a fight? Go find the Foot; they have one (I also like this bit, but I don't believe Leo would sick the Foot on Chase.) Mikey, Donnie, Raph, get him."**

**You also wanted a character of yours named Aria to tell either Kiera and Cor's dad, Chase, General Spite, or some other society-based villain the turtles are kind and that she and two other male humans have been residing with them for three months. You want Aria to help Kiera and Cor's cause, as well as the turtles she has or is apparently living with. You want Mikey to be surprised Aria is there. **

**When Aria comes in, you want a friend of Chase's to grab her and tell Leo to back off. From this point on, I will call Chase's buddy Ryan. Random name, no significance, he is now Ryan. **

**You want Aria to say "Take this, b****!" and stomp on Ryan's foot. You want her to then say, "You want to play tag team? Do you, punk?! Alexander (I am not clear on who Alexander is; would he happen to be one of the guys Aria lives with?), teach this guy the pain you feel if you mess with the turtles and their friends!" **

**You then want Aria and this Alexander to throw Ryan (I assume 'the guy' is Ryan) into or through a wall. **

**Please tell me if this is what you wanted or not. If this is not what you wanted, please resend the dialogue with quotations marks and corrected capitalization, if it's not too much hassle.**

**If I HAVE translated this right, here is what I think.**

**I do not know why Leo would be beating on Chase. If you accidentally confused Kiera and Coralyn (I don't mind; they ARE twins. ;), then Mikey would be the one after Chase. My belief is that Mikey, or at least the Mikey I have portrayed, is much too docile and caring to want to hurt Chase purposefully. If Chase is meant to be Mr. Keller (the evil dad) and you really did mean Leo, I can see a little bit of this happening. I may be a little behind the times (I'm not really a 'hip and happening' sort of thirteen-year-old) but I have absolutely no clue what a GPS Mack with a sound system is. My guess is that they are headphones? Judging by the way the dialogue is set up; my guess is that Chase is meant to be Mr. Keller. The whole 'shell on a wall' bit is what made me think of this. If you would please review clarifying if Leo is truly meant to be Leo, Chase is meant to be Chase, and if the protected girl is Coralyn or Kiera, I would be incredibly grateful.**

**Onto Aria. I do not mind including Aria as a helper to the turtles, but she would have to play a minor part. Under no circumstances could she and these boys have lived with the turtle for even a day. I'm sorry, but it would conflict with my plot too much, and that would make me feel as if I were stealing your characters and their lives. Mikey can still be surprised at Aria's arrival, but it would have to be because of the fact that she is defending him and his brothers, not because he previously knows her. Though this is still unlikely, as he says in the previous chapter he knows there are people who "like us and want to be friends with us and understand that we're people too"**

**To compensate for Aria not being able to live with the turtles, I'm willing to offer her a position as either a coworker of one of the twins or a cousin of theirs. Please send a review choosing ONE of these options, as well as more details into the character of Aria. I perceive her as a hothead like Raph, but I don't know if that is due to the circumstances she is placed is or if she actually is like that. If this character is based on you and you find that comment offensive, I apologize, but that is what she seems like. **

**Last review; the one in lowercase. As for approving comments, I don't have a filter set, so you needn't worry about your comments getting through. These scenarios are based on if Chase is actually meant to be Chase. If not, these are completely irrelevant. **

**I do like the idea of Chase having a friend, or even a three or four person posse. Considering his popularity, it seems very likely he would. Also, since he is attractive to some girls (In my head he looks like Andy Evans from the movie Speak.), he could have a clan of fangirls who would do his bidding. I refuse to put the particular curse word she uses in the story. Not even bleeped out. The ferocity she displays from here on out is another reason I deem her a hothead. This Alexander character seems to have appeared out of nowhere, and I have no clue how he ties to Aria, Chase, or the turtles. My guess is that he is one of the two aforementioned boys who live with Aria and the turtles? Please clarify on how he ties in and what his personality is like. He plays such a small part I cannot glean his personality from it. If you could do that, I would willingly add him in as Aria's brother or friend or roommate or whatever he may be. I am willing to have Chase or a member of his posse thrown into a wall. That happened to Shredder twice in my stories, two different ones, one by a girl with a leaden pipe and a trash can lid and the other by a grief-stricken blue dragon. If 'out the wall' meant 'through the wall', then I believe a turtle would have to assist Aria and Alexander in throwing him, unless one of the two humans is a bodybuilder of sorts. **

**I apologize for having to post this for anyone to see, but you reviewed as the guest Aria, and not a Fanfictioner. If you do have an account and review under that name, I can PM you my findings instead of posting them like this. Otherwise, I will have to dedicate author's notes to you at the head of chapters. I appreciate all your ideas, though I would prefer you didn't suggest such specific dialogues. I would much rather see roundabout ideas and circumstances with maybe one or two particular quotes. That way I don't feel as if I'm disrespecting your ideas when the characters don't say your words verbatim. None of your ideas are in this chapter because I'm still not sure of exactly what you want to happen. **

** Turtles Forever!**

**Sincerely, Dragonblooded. **

"Cor?" Chase asked again, though his nasally accent made it sound more like 'Coeur', "You weore shupposhed to be at the baawr at twhelvhe thuirty."

"Yeah. Well, I wasn't." I retorted, calmly walking back down the makeshift metal plank staircase. I wanted to stick my hands out like I was on a tightrope, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice whatever coolness Chase or Mikey thought I had.

"You shaid you woulwd be in a dwess!" Chase exclaimed.

I laughed loudly and flicked my hand in a carefree gesture, "Puh-lease! I don't even own a dress!"

Chase looked confused; not young-and-innocent-Mikey confused, but drunken-idiot-who-doesn't-deserve-to-be-a-legal-ad ult confused. He pointed at Mikey, his hand swaying up and down. I wonder how much alcohol he had in him. "What dowes dhe tourtlle hawve to do witht awnything?" he said with an accusingly snotty tone.

"Hey, I'm still trying to figure out who this Aristotle guy is!" Mikey replied defensively. He mulled it over for a second before asking me, "Did he have anything to do with Einstein?"

"Einstein was German; Aristotle was Grecian." I explained, "Einstein came up with the Theory of Relativity; Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. They have absolutely nothing in common besides the fact that they were both types of scientists and they're both dead."

"Geez, you don't have to rub it in." Mikey mumbled childishly.

"Neveormind the tourtlle; wet's jeust get to dhe baawr awnd hawve a goowd timwe." Chase said, grabbing my wrist the second my foot touched the ground (Yes, it did take me that long to get down), "Itw's ownly one thuirty! Dhe nighwt's stiwl young!"

"Chase! I am not going drinking with you!" I exclaimed, tugging my wrist out of his loose and intoxicated grip.

He turned to look at me, appearing as confused as he always is when I speak. "Why not?" he asked clearly, having released his nose in expectance of leaving.

"Must I remind you that I am SEVENTEEN?!" I answered, "I can't drink yet! It's ILL-LE-GAL!"

"So?!" he said.

I don't know where my random burst of anger came from, but I grabbed him by the neck of his white tee. I stood on my tippy toes so I could loom menacingly over him. "I don't know about you, but I have an important story tomorrow." I spat, "This is the first story that has nothing to do with mutant reptiles that I've ever done more than ferry lattes to reporters on the set of! This is the first story that I feel I have actually EARNED, instead of exploiting them for it! I, for one, actually have to WORK to keep my job, instead of keeping it by being a cute boy with a 'dreamy southern accent'. Blech! I, for one, CARE about my job. I, for one, want a boyfriend who cares about their job, too." I tossed Chase on the ground, feeling too much like a certain red-clothed turtle. "We are finished." I snarled, stalking off.

I was planning on walking home, even though it was two in the morning in the southern half of New York City, and my apartment was in the north. But as I passed Chase's flaming red convertible, he swung open the passenger door and put the top down like I like it. I sighed and got into the car. I may as well take him up on his offer. Maybe I could talk him into grabbing some papers from work and trash his car while he was gone. The song 'Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood fluttered through my brain. I'm pretty sure I had an old baseball bat in the closet. It was an Easton instead of a Louisville Slugger, but it was aluminum instead of wood. My keys were in my purse, and I have a pink top that I hate. It looks like a doily for your body. If I hack off the lace, I could frillify his dash and four wheel drive, then dig my key into the side of the latter. Then I'd carve 'Coralyn Keller' into his nice white leather seats. I'd slash holes in all four tires. Just as I was fantasizing about what shade of pink I should spray paint his windows, the car stopped. We were at my apartment. Darn, I hadn't decided between Carnation Pink and Flamingo Fuchsia.

Chase grabbed the ignition key and tugged hard. Mind you, this was a classic convertible, not one of those nice new push-start ones, so it was fragile and very expensive. But Chase didn't care; he was Chase, why should he? He yanked on the stubborn key and it flew toward the back seats. I reflexively caught it. Looking at the four wheel drive directly beneath my outstretched arm, I hid a smile, seeing an opportunity for a little destruction.

I swept my arm in a grand gesture, making sure to drag the key through the console. I held the golden key above Chase's hand, but his attention was elsewhere. "Here you are!" I exclaimed with mock happiness. When he didn't respond, I followed his eyes, pretending he didn't know what he was staring at. There was a deep furrow in the ashen leather. "Oh my God!" I said, "I am SOO sorry!"

Chase continued to gape at the ruined console. He mouthed two words. "Duct tape." He mouthed. His grief-stricken gaze never left the slice in the leather. His car was his baby, and I had just 'accidentally' defiled it.

"I have some white duct tape." I stated, pulling my special multicolored roll out of my purse. It's a special one with like ten different colors on it. As I held the cream-colored duct tape against the leather, comparing the shades, I suddenly got another idea. I stuck the end of the white roll to one end of the gash. Then, making sure Chase's key was pointed downward, I ran the roll down the length of the cut, making one of the exact same dimensions next to it. Chase didn't even twitch.

"Hmm…." I thought with a hidden smile, "How many cuts can I make before Chase will stop me. I bet five."

He ended my fun on the tenth slice. He grabbed the key and took it away, sliding it into the depths of his wallet, which just happened to be a souvenir Channel 6 wallet with none other than Chase McCain on its cover. How vain can you get?! I bet Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe doesn't even have his own wallet, and he's probably the vainest person on the planet! Channel 6 has some weird tradition where all their reporters get their face on wallets and coffee cups and other merchandise that for some reason sells. It made me nervous to think that soon someone's wallet might have a picture of me on it.

Back to the car. His four wheel drive looked like a cat with double-length claws and precision as sharp as said talons intricately mauled it. The stark pure snow-colored tape looked wrong against the off white cream-colored seats. I suppressed a giggle as Chase roughly shoved me out of the car. Vandalizing a drunken man's car was probably a poorly thought out and idiotic thing to do….but boy was it fun!

I was so focused on stifling my laughter that I didn't notice when Chase snatched something out of the backseat and followed me to my room. When I entered my apartment, which I believed was Chase-free; I let out one lone laugh to release all my pent-up merriment.

"What's so funny?" the Louisiana-accented voice of Chase asked.

I whirled around and groaned loudly. I shouldn't have expected this break-up to have any more effect on him than the last one, but usually he waits at least a day before showing back up.

"I just broke up with you; didn't you hear?" I exclaimed angrily, "Y'know, when you're someone's ex that usually means you aren't randomly invited into their house."

He cocked his head and gave me the 'dreamy half-smile' I knew he used to lure in girls. Only those with powerful wills (or hatreds) could resist the 'look', according to him, even ones with boyfriends they were perfectly happy with. He says everyone wants a Chase McCain. Can you think of one person who doesn't? Bingo! Yours truly! "Well, I was thinking about asking you to pay for the damages to my car, but I realized it was an accident, so there's only one little thing I want you to do." He said in full-on charm mode, swirling his wrist. An item was being concealed behind him, and no matter how much I bobbed and weaved, I couldn't see it.

I moaned, "What do you want?"

"All I want is for you to try some of this." He declared, presenting the secret item which happened to be a bottle of clear liquid, "See, simple!"

"What IS it?" I asked, staring at the bottle. My tired eyes couldn't make out the label. It was going on two in the morning.

He popped open the bottle and searched through my cupboards and drawers as he explained, "It's called White Lightning. You'll love it. This stuff is great."

The name 'White Lightning' scared me, but if tasting it got me out of paying for Chase's car, I was all ears. He finally found what he wanted in a miscellaneous junk drawer; a medicine cup. He filled the cup to just below the brim and passed me the little beaker. I cautiously sniffed it and got a strong whiff of what smelled like the whiskey Chase had tried to force me to taste. Chase is either a fine wine connoisseur, or an alcoholic. My guess is the latter.

"Do I have to try it?" I whimpered, beginning to once again fear the name.

"No!" Chase exclaimed, "Of course not! I'll just call up my dad's mechanic and…."

"Wait." I griped, "I'll try it."

"Good. It's only, like, 5 liters or something! You'll be fine!" he chided.

"You do mean milliliters, right?" I asked nervously.

"Yes, milliliters. I meant milliliters." He said with an exasperated tone, "Just please drink it."

I almost pinched my nose to block the taste, but decided against it. I threw it down and sneezed because of how bitter it was. The pungent flavor numbed my tongue and deadened the inside of my mouth. I could practically feel the brain cells dying from the alcoholic amount.

"You love it, no?" Chase asked.

"No." I mumbled through my thick tongue, "No I do not."

"It's an acquired taste." He stated, as if this compensated for the throbbing beginning in my skull, "You just need more." He began to pour another round into the cup, but I flicked his hand away and spilled some moonshine on my carpeting.

"I tried your stupid Black Thunder!" I exclaimed woozily.

"White Lightning." He corrected.

"Whatever!" I retorted, finding it hard to speak. My tongue felt like it was swelling to fill my whole mouth and I soon wouldn't be able to speak, or breathe. I choked, "Leave. Now. Please."

"Leave?" Chase asked, single-handedly downing a medicine cup's worth of White Thunder….Black Lightning….Silver Storm….whatever the heck the stupid thing is! The stuff's messing with my head. Chase kept speaking, "Why do you want me to leave?"

I wanted to come up with a snippy, sharp-tongued, sarcastic little retort, but my brain couldn't come up with anything clever. I tried to tell him I was going to bed, but the words wouldn't come to me, let alone rearrange themselves into a sensible sentence. With much frustration, I pointed at me and then my bedroom door. I tilted my head and folded my hands underneath it, closing my eyes and making fake wheeze-snore sounds.

Chase made a random series of shapes and gestures with his hands and said slowly, using a different random motion for each word, "What's. With. The. Sign. Language?!" From what I could gather from his horribly misused signing, he actually said something more like, "I. Love. Duck. Bunny. Two." If they come out with a movie called 'Duck Bunny 2', I am going to FLIP.

I stalked into my room, not caring that I probably left Chase utterly confused (He's used to it. I swear that kid can make Mikey look like Aristotle. Hehe. Inside joke.) Immediately I walked into the bathroom and splashed water on my face. I used my hands as a cup and downed what I assumed would be enough water to dilute the alcohol, but just to be safe I added a few extra mouthfuls. Weakly slamming the bathroom door behind me, I trudged into my room and curled up on the bed. The thoughts of locking the door and shutting the windows occurred to me, but I was much too tired to attempt anything. I'll deal with it later. I didn't even bother grabbing my pillow or getting under the covers. Hoping enough sleep would eradicate the effects of the alcohol, I forced myself into dreamland.

At some point during my nap, I guessed roughly a half-hour to an hour in, the clink of glass abruptly ended my alcoholic dreams, threatening to transfer me from the cushy world of sleep to the harsh land of reality. I moaned and swatted feebly at the noise, shutting my ears down from the inside. Just as I was falling back asleep, another louder glassy noise rattled my fantasy into oblivion and spat me into veracity. My eyes saw nothing but blurry gray shapes and my head throbbed wretchedly from the Lightning whatever stuff. I moaned loudly, voicing my displeasure to whatever force decided it would be fun to break some glass and wake up the drunk chick. Making one move per head throb, I rhythmically crawled to the edge of my bed. As I reached my leg over to climb down, the doorknob suddenly turned. I drew my leg back and curled into a ball, berating myself for not locking the door. The door slammed open with such force that it bounced back off the wall and smacked the incoming figure right in the face. Chase grumbled and shoved the unruly door out of the way. I noticed large glass shards spread across the floor, a label coiled up next to it. I knew it said White Lightning before my eyes adjusted enough to see it. There was no limp in his gait, no slur to his voice, not even the slightest sign that he had consumed a bottle's worth of pure alcohol.

"Wow." I thought woozily, "He handles alcohol well."

"You're still awake?" he asked, sitting next to me.

"Not for long." I thought, reaching a hand toward my pillow.

He quickly grabbed my wrist. He seemed faster than usual, as if alcohol heightened his reflexes instead of diminished them. Looking into my eyes with one of his many 'looks', he said, "The moonlight glistens off your hair. It looks like pure silver. Of course, not even the purest silver or the most brilliant moonlight can hope to compare to your beauty."

I recognized this as his 'Poet' look out of what he calls his 'Heart's Desire' group. He'll basically pretend to be whatever he thinks a girl wants. His 'Poet' image focuses on speaking so eloquently he has to research all his words beforehand. Once, just once, I would love to see one of his 'looks' fail. Maybe he tried to use his 'Bad Boy' look on a saintly angel girl, or possibly his 'Samaritan' on a gothic punk chick. Of course, his poetic powers have no effect on me, and I use my other hand to grab my pillow.

Using his new alcohol super speed, he held both my wrists with one hand and my pillow with the other. He tossed the pillow over his shoulder as he leaned forward and kissed me on the lips.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Eww eww eww EWW!" I thought, trying to wrench my hands out of his grip so I could get away. Chase only pulled me closer and deepened the kiss. His tongue rubbed disgustingly against my teeth. My brain went into panic mode and lost all traces of alcoholic shutdown. "Bite him! Head butt him! Barf in his mouth!" it shouted, "Do SOMETHING!" I parted my teeth to chomp down on his tongue, but he stuck his tongue in my mouth and twined it with mine. In my mouth. IN MY MOUTH! I mentally prayed he would activate my gag reflex so I would vomit alcohol and turtle pizza down his throat. I tugged hard on my hands, clasping them into a fist and banging it on his wrist. Eventually my random swinging hit him in the side of the head and he let go of me. I immediately ran to the window and tried to scream, but Chase cupped his hand over my mouth and dragged me back.

"I have to use the bathroom!" I shrieked, locking myself in the tiny restroom. I pulled out my phone and dialed what I thought was 911.

The phone rang for a good minute before my sister's voice wafted through the speaker saying, "Hi, this is Kiera Keller. If you're getting this message, I can't get to the phone right now, so please leave a message, and I'll call you back ASAP. Okey dokey? Bye!"

I have Kiera set to 9 on speed dial. It must've called her instead. Oh well, at least if I was overreacting, the cops wouldn't be at my door. "Kiera," I whispered as quickly as I could without slurring my words, "It's me, Cor. Come here. Chase is staring to scare me. He's drunk and I'm kinda drunk and I'm hiding in the bathroom from him. The lock won't hold long."

Chase pounded on the door. "Cor?!" he yelled, the door muffling his voice, "What's going on in there?!"

"Nothing! I'm just a little sick!" I hollered back.

"Should I come in there?!" he shouted.

"NO!" I shouted a bit too forcefully.

"Why not?" he asked. When I remained silent, he said, "I'm coming in there!" The doorknob rattled and I saw the lock begin to twist on its own accord. He probably knows the clothes hanger trick.

"Please hurry." I whispered to my phone. The second the door swung open, I hung up the phone and hid it behind the toilet.

"Are we all good?" he asked.

I feigned a weak smile and stood up. For effect, I stumbled and fell back down, then began crawling across the floor.

"Alcohol really getting to ya, eh?" he said.

I nodded as I attempted to pull myself onto my bed. Fully playing the 'too drunk to stand' act, I fell back off the bed and made a weird noise, a cross between a whimper and a grunt. Chase smiled at me like you would a puppy that kept running into a glass sliding door and picked me up. He laid me on the bed and put his hand on my shoulder. The moon shone in my eyes and made me squint. Chase pinched a lock of my hair between his forefingers and held it so that the moonlight painted it sterling silver. Then, before I knew it, he was leaning in for another kiss. I made a loud protestant squeal that scared the crap out of Chase.

"No kissing?" he asked.

I nodded overzealously.

Chase dropped his eyes from my lips to my neck. They followed down my body for a while until they suddenly jolted back up to eye level. "I get it." He said, sounding as if he'd just figured out the Pythagorean Theorem, "I know what you want."

"Sleep." I stated hoarsely, reaching for my pillow above my head.

"Yeah, 'sleep.'" Chase declared, running his hand the other way.

At first I was really confused to what he was doing, probably because of a combination of alcohol, tiredness, and all-over unintelligence. Even when his hand stopped at my hip, I still hadn't connected the dots. It wasn't until he started pulling down my sweats that I realized what he was doing, and it hit me like a lightning bolt.

Coralyn

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Mikey

I spent the next hour attempting to figure out why this boyfriend guy 'Chase' looked so familiar, and of course who the heck Aristotle was. As I was walking down the sidewalk from the sewage plant (Even mutant turtles get sick of the smell at SOME point.), it suddenly hit me where I knew that guy from. He sounded almost exactly like that teen Leo had been talking about, the one who said he had rabies when turtles can't even get rabies (apparently). Leo said the guy had a Jersey accent, brown-blonde hair, blue eyes, and emanated annoyingness. I may not know what 'emanating' means, but the guy was sure as heck annoying. He had blonde hair, blue eyes (I hate having something in common with this dude.), and a Jersey accent, though he sounds like he could use some Nyquil. I felt bad for Cor; that's dude's an idiot.

I was all set and ready to find Donnie and ask him whop the freaking heck Aristotle was when a blonde girl caught my attention. She looked like she was yelling something, but she didn't get to say a word before a hand appeared, covered her mouth, and dragged her back in. The second she vanished I realized that blonde girl was Cor.

"I have to use the bathroom!" Cor screamed, loud footsteps echoing out the window. I swore I heard a phone beep, and a familiar voice talking in the background, but there were so faint I probably imagined them. Cor whispered something jumbled up, and her boyfriend guy banged on the door.

"Cor?! What's going on in there?!" he shouted.

"Nothing!" Cor answered suspiciously.

"Should I come in there?" the dude asked.

Coralyn shouted loudly, "NO!"

"What the heck is going on?" I thought, "Something doesn't seem right."

"Why not?" The guy asked. When there was no answer, he stated, "I'm coming in there."

I heard the knob clatter and twist. Cor whispered, "Please hurry."

From that point on, I didn't hear a word he or her said. I was too busy scaling the side of the apartment building. At least Coralyn lives on the sixth floor and not the tenth or something. I know I was being super stalkerish, but I cautiously peeked in her window. It looked like the moon was blinding her, so I tried to stop it from shining in her face. The guy had her pinned in the bed, playing with her now-silvery hair. He started to lean close to her, but Coralyn made some weird squealing noise or something. The guy jumped back in shock.

"No kissing?" he asked her.

She nodded a bit too enthusiastically, practically screaming at him to GET OFF.

The dude's eyes started rolling downward. When the colored-part-with-a-name-that-sounds-like-a-flower -that-I-can't-remember touched the bottom, he shot them back up and looked at Cor. "I get it. I know what you want." He declared with a smarty-pants tone that Leo and Donnie always get but I never do.

"Sleep." Cor groaned.

"Yeah, 'sleep.'" The boy said. I immediately knew there were talking about two very different kinds of sleep. I was probably being rash, but I jumped in through the window, the second Coralyn punched the guy in the face. He stumbled backwards and fell onto a floor lamp, accidentally turning it on. It threw a rainbow of colors across the room, though it slowly acquired a red tint as he bled onto the multicolored surface. Who knew pillows could be so violent?

The guy got up and lurched forward, grabbling on to Cor's bed for support. She immediately shrunk away from him. "Help." She squeaked softly.

He didn't hear her. He shouted angrily, "What was that for?! You frickin cut my face! Now how will I do my story tomorrow?! Bandages will NOT look good on this." He circled his face with his hand on the word 'this'.

"Note to self. Dude is vainer than a peacock. When in doubt, use compliments." I thought, figuring I might want to get some type of a strategy set up. Leo would be really helpful right now.

The dude used the bed as a banister and half-walked half-crawled toward Cor. "Leave me alone." She pleaded.

"Oh no." he said, "First you ditch me at the bar, then you trash my car, and now you've probably given me ugly scars all over my face! You'll pay, if it's the last thing I do." He took a step forward and bent his knees as if he were going to jump-tackle her.

Cor scooted backward on the bed, talking the whole way. "They aren't that bad. I'm sure they won't even scar! You'll rock Band-aids just fine." She stated nervously. When he still crept forward, she turned to compliments, exclaiming rapidly, "Y'know, all those cuts make you look like a bad boy! Bad boys are hot right now! Of course, you're hot anyway! Cute as a button! Have I ever told you you look adorable when you're angry? Cuz you do. The hotness is practically burning me to death right now! Whew!" She desperately fanned herself with her hand, but he only tensed up; he looked ready to pounce.

"Okay. Compliments aren't working." I thought, "Let's try nunchuks. Nunchuks work well." Just as he leapt on her, I bludgeoned (I just love this word; bludgeoned. It's fun to say yet it still makes me sound smart! Double whammy!) him in the gut. I thought I heard a rib snap. He crashed into the bathroom and shattered the mirror. He held his arms over his head in a futile attempt to protect his head, but most all the shards slipped around his paltry (paltry, another fun/smart word; it sounds like poultry. Maybe poultry's paltry!) defenses and added more cuts to his face.

Cor stared at me in awe. I smiled and whistled nonchalantly, trying to pretend I didn't just club her boyfriend. She smiled and declared, "I never thought I would say this, but I think hot nunchuk fury might've just saved my life."

"Pshaw! It wasn't that bit a deal!" I exclaimed, knowing I was probably blushing.

"No, seriously." She stated with a more serious tone, "Chase is drunk and angry. Who knows what he would've done."

Just then, the guy who's apparently named Chase staggered through the bathroom door, looking sufficiently drunk. He looked at Cor, who was holding her pillow like it was a lethal weapon (I think she could've made it one if she really wanted), and then to me, the 5"10' mutant turtle with the bloody nunchuks who DOES NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT have rabies.

He looked back and forth between us, then growled "This isn't over.", and stalked out.

Cor looked confusedly at me and asked, "Did we win, or lose?"

I decided to go with a more Master Splinter-style answer than a Mikey-style one and stated, "We have won the battle, but not the war."

Cor stared at me like I was from Mars (Teenage Mutant Ninja Martian Turtle doesn't work well.) "I am talking to MIKEY, right?" she asked.

"Yep!" I declared happily, "Still don't know who Aristotle is, though." We both laughed, partially to clear the tension and partially because I'm in idiot sometimes (Raph probably would say I'm an idiot ALL the time.)

Cor died off well before I did. She stared at the floor, though I could tell that wasn't what she was looking at. "Hey, everything okay?" I asked.

She started, as if she had forgotten I was there. "Yeah, I'm fine." She stated, "I was just thinking about how much bleach I'm gonna need to get the bloodstains out of the carpet."

Mikey

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Chase

I stormed angrily out of the room, choosing to shove my way down the stairs instead of stick myself in an elevator where I was liable to strangle someone. Some old guy practically got ran over when I thundered through the lobby. He shook his fist at me and shouted something in some Asian language. I turned around and called him a lot of the names I wanted to call Cor right then. His face turned pale and he hurried away. He must've understood enough English to get the gist of that.

My car sat in the parking lot, pretty as could be. The nearby streetlamp shone on the ugly strips of duct tape lining the four wheel drive, mocking me because of its imperfection. I got in the car and slammed the door, crushing the gas petal like it was that turtle's shell. The moonlight and lamplight took turns playing all over the duct tape strips, panting it silver and gold and silver and gold and silver and gold. With a snarl, I snatched all the ends of the tape strips and ripped them off in one swipe. A horrible tearing sound followed and almost all the leather on the console came up with the tape. I shouted in frustration and balled up the tape. I chucked the ball over my window. It hit a little kid and they started crying. A little smile crossed my face.

I killed the brakes when a red light showed up. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, considering running the light. As if it sensed my restlessness, the light switched to green and I drove off. The green light sparked a sudden idea in my head. I had no idea how I connected this with green lights, but I grinned devilishly as I pulled out my phone. It rang for a short time before they picked up.

"Hello?" they asked in a gruff voice.

"Hi, Mr. Keller. It's Chase McCain, Coralyn's boyfriend." I declared, not stopping my devious grin, "Uh huh. Uh huh. I'm doing well. But actually, I wanted to talk to you about Cor. I think there's something you would be VERY pleased to know."

**I'm sorry it took so long to get the chapter up, but this one is really long. 15 Microsoft Word pages, three alone in the author's note.**


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